Small Businesses: America's Job Creators

Op-Ed

Straight Talk With Sam

Small Businesses: America's Job Creators

I believe that our economy is healthy when Main Street is healthy. Last week, I toured small businesses and talked with small business owners throughout my district. The truth is that government doesn't create jobs, people do. In fact, 7 out of every 10 jobs in this country are created by small businesses.

We should do things that help small businesses. For instance a lot of small business owners would like to provide healthcare for their employees, but their size puts them at a disadvantage.

Small businesses have fewer employees than larger businesses. The fewer employees a business has, the more it costs to insure them. As a result many small business employers simply cannot afford health insurance for their employees.

I have long favored a common-sense bill that allows those small businesses to band together and bid for health insurance as one big business instead of many small ones. I don't believe that where you work should determine whether or not you have health insurance.

H.R. 241 would allow small businesses to buy health insurance through an existing trade association or organization. Restaurants for example would have the ability to ban together and purchase health insurance for thousands of workers instead of a handful.

Millions of people could obtain health insurance through these types of association health plans. The bill would decrease the number of uninsured without a substantial cost to taxpayers.

It's exactly the kind of win-win solution that we need in this country.

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