183389 Resource 149176 155860 149257 1189902416364 1190061746589 Controlled Small Business News: Owners Express Concern With Current Healthcare System

New survey show small business owners believe health insurance can help attract, retain employees

The state of the current U.S. healthcare system remains a primary concern for small business owners, according to the latest Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index. Almost nine out of 10 small business owners surveyed (86 percent) said the current healthcare system is in need of change, with six out of 10 saying a "a complete overhaul" (59 percent) is in order.Small business owners were asked what effect adequate health insurance has on a company's employees. More than three-quarters (84 percent) agreed that adequate coverage attracts the best qualified employees, and nearly the same amount of respondents (81 percent) agreed that it improves employee loyalty. Eighty-three percent believe it reduces an employee's likelihood to leave a company.The Index found that over half of small business owners (55 percent) do not offer any health insurance to their employees, citing high cost as the number one reason (45 percent). Of these business owners, 55 percent said they would be "more likely" to offer such benefits if the federal government provided some financial incentives for this coverage."The majority of small business owners recognize the benefits of offering affordable healthcare coverage to their employees, but many feel they cannot afford to do so," said Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, executive vice president and head of Wells Fargo's small business segment. "A third of small business owners are cutting back on non-capital investments so they can provide healthcare for their employees. For several years health insurance has been a major concern for small business owners, and its impact is significant." 10 application/xml business news business owners health insurance healthcare system new survey small business news small business owners false Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; Media Center PC 3.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 mfmomper false true false false true 189572 false false true false false false true 149176 blog blogsite/FreedomVoice/web