September 15, 2004
Health Premium Increases Bad News for Micro-Businesses
Health premiums continue to rise in the United States, contributing to a decrease in the number of employers that sponsored health insurance for their employees and an increase in the overall number of uninsured Americans. All of these factors create a bleak outlook for micro-businesses struggling to maintain health coverage for themselves and their employees, according to the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE).
A new survey released today shows that employer-sponsored health insurance premiums increased an average of 11.2 percent this year, making 2004 the fourth consecutive year of double-digit premium growth. The 2004 Annual Employer Health Benefits Survey released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust found that premiums reached an average of $9,950 annually for family coverage ($829 per month) and $3,695 ($308 per month) for single coverage.
“Health premium costs keep rising, and micro-businesses have a hard time keeping up,” said Robert Hughes, president of the NASE. “The sad reality is that these costs force the self-employed to choose between losing health coverage and losing their business. The business typically wins out, which is why we have so many working uninsured.”
The Annual Employer Health Benefits Survey reports that only 63 percent of small firms with three to 199 workers offered health coverage to employees in 2004, down from 68 percent in 2001. An NASE 2002 survey of micro-businesses with fewer than six employees found that only 30 percent of the self-employed had health coverage themselves or offered it to their employees.
Recognizing the burden health insurance coverage has become for micro-businesses, the NASE actively advocates for public policy reform and relief. Partial success came last year when Congress passed health savings accounts, which allow consumers with high-deductible health plans to save and spend money for medial expenses tax free. The NASE continues to work for other solutions, including health tax credits, association health plans and the elimination of the self-employment tax on health insurance premiums.
For more information on the NASE advocacy efforts, visit http://advoacy.NASE.org. The 2004 Annual Employer Health Benefits Survey can be found at http://www.kff.org/.
Study of Women’s Business Centers Shows Results
Women’s Business Centers across the country successfully increased the number of clients counseled, businesses started, and new jobs created between 2001 and 2003, even without a drastic increase in its government funding level. A new report by the National Women’s Business Council, “Analyzing the Impact of the Women's Business Center Program,” looks at the impact funding by the U.S. Small Business Administration had on 92 women’s business centers across the country in those two years.
The report shows that during the two-year period from 2001 to 2003 - while funding for the program remained essentially flat ($12 million in 2001 and $12.5 million in 2003) - the number of client contacts rose 61%, the number of clients served nearly doubled (a 91% increase), the number of new firms created increased by 376%, and the businesses counseled by these centers generated an estimated economic impact of $500 million in gross receipts, with $51.4 million in profits. Over the period, women's business center clients reported starting 6,660 new firms and creating 12,719 new jobs.
The SBA’s Women's Business Center program provides partial funding to qualified non-profit organizations seeking to counsel and train new business owners, which then match that Federal support with money from other sources. Federal funding for the program for the next fiscal year is currently bound up in the Congressional debate about the reauthorization of the SBA.
Let your members of Congress know you support the continued funding of Women Business Centers by writing to them at the NASE Legislative Action Center. Enter your zip code, and click on S. 2267 or H.R. 4376 under the “Issues and Legislation” tab.
New Online Application for SBA’s 8(a) Certification Program
Applications for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development and Small Disadvantaged Business certification can now be found online, aimed at making it easier, faster and less expensive for small companies to apply directly from SBA’s Web site.
The SBA's 8(a) Business Development Program helps small businesses owned, controlled, and operated by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals by providing management, technical, financial and federal contracting assistance with the aim of helping these entrepreneurs create viable businesses. About 8,300 companies are presently certified in the 8 (a) program, receiving $9.56 billion in federal contracts this year.
The application is 100 percent Web-based, allowing applicants to apply without downloading any software or plug-ins, replacing a four-page written application that required substantial supporting documentation. The online application incorporates features including context sensitive help, real- time validation, printer-ready versions and integrates with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR).
The online application can be found at: https://sba8a.symplicity.com/applicants/guide. For more information on the 8(a) Business Development Program, visit http://www.sba.gov/8abd/.
U.S. Small Business Administration
http://www.sba.gov
8(a) Business Development and Small Disadvantaged Business
http://www.sba.gov/8abd/
Minority Businesses in the Spotlight
Minority-owned small businesses were the focus of several conferences and exhibitions last week in Washington, D.C., spotlighting their successes and supporting their development.
The National MED Week Conference is the largest federally sponsored activity held on behalf of minority business enterprises (MBEs). Since 1983, MED Week has observed the outstanding achievements of MBEs and honored those corporations and financial institutions that support minority business development. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency, in collaboration with the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Government Contracting and Business Development, host the conference.
For MED Week, Democratic members of the House Small Business Committee, organized by Ranking Member Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), held a summit on Capitol Hill that brought leaders of the minority business community together to discuss the minority business agenda, and the key role they play in job creation and overall economic recovery.
Separately, the Congressional Black Caucus held a Minority Business Exchange expo in conjunction with their Annual Legislative Conference. The NASE hosted an information booth at the event, alongside other groups and government agencies that assist small and minority owned businesses and entrepreneurs.
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