Rural Health Insurance Studied

By: By SCOTT BAUER

Associated Press Writer





LINCOLN, Neb. -- John Miller started by selling one bag of alfalfa for pet food 12 years ago.

Now Miller's Oxbow Hay Co. in Murdock has 40 employees, with more than $1 million a year in payroll, selling 22 pet food products around the world.



But as Miller's company has grown, so too have his struggles with finding affordable health insurance for employees.



The premium on the current plan is increasing 12 percent this year, which Miller said was more than his company could afford.



His was just one of several problems laid at the feet of Nebraska's three U.S. representatives and U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Ill., during a field hearing Monday of the House's Small Business Committee.



The meeting, attended by about 150 people, was organized by U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., who is a member of the committee, which Manzullo leads. Also attending were Nebraska Republicans Lee Terry and Tom Osborne.



Fortenberry said the affordability of health insurance for small businesses is a topic that frequently arises during his visits in the 1st Congressional District, which covers Lincoln and the eastern third of Nebraska other than Omaha.



Only about two-thirds of small businesses nationwide can afford to offer their employees health insurance, Fortenberry said. The cost and availability of the coverage are the most frequent complaints, he said.



"We feel your pain," Osborne told Miller and five other people invited to testify. Each represented a small business in Fortenberry's district.



There were plenty of complaints aired at the one-hour meeting.



The testifiers said they each spend between 10 percent and 30 percent of their total budgets on health care costs.



Peggy Green, president of Green's Plumbing in Lincoln, said she expects health insurance rates to increase 15 percent to 20 percent next year. Many of her employees rely on the coverage their spouses get from their employers, she said.



The session was called to examine why more small businesses can't provide health coverage to their employees. No solutions to the individual problems detailed were offered, other than Manzullo's recommendation that small-business owners look around for the best rates.



"I would shop, shop, shop," he said.



After the hearing, Fortenberry said there were no easy answers.



"It is a very long book with a lot of chapters," he said.



Debi Durham, president of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce in northeast Nebraska, advocated for small businesses in different states pooling to get a more competitive plan.



Charlie Janssen, the chairman of a temporary health care staffing company in Fremont called RTG Medical, said that last year he solicited bids from six different companies. Of the three bids that he received in return, the lowest percentage increase was 90 percent over the premiums for his existing plan.



The only way for businesses to control those costs is to pass them along to the employees who sign up for coverage, Janssen told the congressmen.



But those rising costs still hinder the ability of small businesses to grow, he said.