Business for Shared Prosperity

By Carrie Mason-Draffen
Business Beat, Newsday, 6/7/08

New York small businesses decry health-care costs

A statewide survey released Wednesday confirmed what many small-business owners in New York already know: health-care benefits are costly.

The majority of the 400 businesses surveyed, which included nearly 60 on Long Island, acknowledge the advantage of offering health-care benefits but say the costs are prohibitive. Most of the businesses have fewer than 50 employees.

More than half of the respondents, 52 percent, said they don’t offer benefits because of costs. And 81 percent said the best way to make the benefits affordable is to share costs with employees and government.

Seventy percent of the businesses said offering benefits is important because they help attract good employees. And 60 percent said benefits are important because they improve employees’ health.

Four groups collaborated for the poll: AARP; the American Cancer Society; The Small Business Majority, a San Franciso-based advocacy group, and the Business and Labor Coalition of New York, or BALCONY, a statewide non-partisan group.

The sponsors hope the findings will spur lawmakers to help small businesses provide coverage for their employees.

For more on the survey go to: www.balconynewyork.com.

(c) Newsday