Tax Incentives and AHP's as Paths to More Health Coverage

Charlotte DiLeonardo,CEO of Zebra Print Solutions, which has 20 employees, and president of the Greater Raleigh Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, writing in today's Charlotte News Observer:

Employer-provided health insurance coverage in North Carolina has dropped to alarming lows. We now hold the unfortunate distinction of being the state with the second-worst percentage-point decline in health care coverage in the nation. As a result, 559,000 of our fellow citizens, primarily in small businesses, have lost their employer-sponsored health insurance coverage, and that number does not include the many thousands more who were never insured to begin with.
The high cost of health insurance is the biggest impediment for small-business owners who want to provide health insurance to their employees.

Tax incentive proposals before the General Assembly are aimed at easing the burden for small business owners. As proposed, an $800 business credit per employee will be allowed for employers who pay at least 50 percent of their workers' health insurance.

This is certainly welcome health care relief and a step in the right direction, but it is a step that will be easily eradicated unless small business owners are able to contain costs at the source. Small business owners should be allowed to band together and shop across state lines for the most affordable and appropriate health insurance plans for our workers. If this does not happen, then even with tax credits North Carolina's small businesses will face the same tough choices of today in the not-too distant future.

Charlotte goes on to argue for approval by Congress of small business health plans (as association health plans are now called). Read the whole oped.