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44 E Main Street, Suite 414
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: (217) 352-5600
Fax: (217) 352-5688
cbhc-cu@cbhconline.org
Chicago
1325 S. Wabash Avenue, Suite 305
Chicago, IL 60605
Phone: (312) 913-9449
Fax: (312) 913-9559
cbhc-chi@cbhconline.org
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Rising Costs
Small Business Without Health Coverage: Middle Class Hurting
Nancy Mullen works at a suburban Chicago beauty parlor. With only three employees, health insurance rates are too high for this small business to offer health benefits for its staff. This means that Nancy, a full-time worker, is left with the total financial burden of health care costs, a situation that is difficult to impossible for most middle-income Illinoisans to afford.
Fortunately, Nancy had a back-up plan. For many years, the family depended on her husband Frank’s employer-sponsored health insurance. But the couple divorced recently and soon after Frank lost his job. Now the entire family is uninsured.
The major problem is that health insurance in the individual market is beyond the Mullen’s financial means. Nancy puts in extra long hours at the salon just to pay for her son Paul’s expensive mental health medications while still maintaining regular household bills. But this wears her down. Sacrificing her own need for health care and prevention, Nancy worries about what will happen to Paul if she can no longer maintain this hectic pace of living.
There is no question that small businesses not only provide vital services but help in boosting our economy. In addition, because of their tight relationship with customers, many go above and beyond their normal roles to give back to the community through charity/volunteering, information dissemination, and advocacy efforts. Small businesses currently pay high health care rates because they have few employees — a small purchasing pool to spread out the insurance risk. We believe small businesses should not be penalized by their size. Right now Illinois is contemplating legislation to allow more affordable, accessible health care to small business owners and their employees. Please call your legislators and let them know that you support the proposal of small businesses coming together as one group to purchase health insurance, creating a large shared risk pool to lower their health insurance premiums.
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