Survey shows Nebraska small businesses support health care reform

Scott and Pat Wendt describe their business as a "classic mom and pop shop."

For the past 25 years, they have owned Bluestem Books, which buys and sells used, rare and out-of-print books.
They have never been able to provide health insurance for their employees.

"If we could, we would," Scott Wendt said. "If it was reasonable, we would provide insurance for them."

They say they support health care reform "wholeheartedly."

They are not alone, according to a new survey released by a national network of small-business coalitions.

The results of a survey released by the Nebraska Main Street Alliance last week showed that the majority of small-business owners support health care reform. The survey included results from 472 small-business owners from Arkansas, Indiana and North Carolina, along with 119 small-business owners in Nebraska.

Of the mostly Lincoln and Omaha businesses surveyed, 64 percent were in favor of a public option, said Hannah Ledford, a senior arts and sciences major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who conducted the Nebraska surveys. Ledford was hired by the Main Street Alliance to conduct the surveys, which involved random door-to-door canvassing.

"There was an overwhelming consensus that we need reform," Ledford said.

Of the Nebraska residents, 60 percent surveyed supported giving small businesses a choice between the public option and private plans, and 25 percent said that they supported all choices coming from private companies. The public option is "still the way to go," said Stuart Kolnick, who has owned Recycled Sounds since 1992. He can't afford health insurance.

"At this point, it's just too much," Kolnick said. "There's things I need to do, but any procedures that I need to have done are going to cost thousands of dollars."

As a small-business owner, he has seen the effects of not having health insurance, Kolnick said, surrounded by shelves of CDs, concert poster displays and boxes of old Rolling Stone magazines.
"I've seen what it's costing people," Kolnick said.

The majority of those surveyed also said that they were willing to help their employees receive health coverage. Of those surveyed, 57 percent said they were willing to contribute, while 19 percent said they weren't. Though all of the Bluestem Books employees work part-time, Scott Wendt still said that they would provide health insurance if they could. However, one of their employees has a pre-existing condition, and even if they wanted to, the Wendts couldn't contribute to her coverage.

Scott Wendt called health care coverage the biggest barrier for those wanting to start a small business. If there were health care reform, there would be more people wanting to start their own businesses, which would ultimately help the economy, he said.
"Any small business that thinks the public option will hurt is politically motivated," Scott Wendt said, "not economically motivated."
Still, health care reform is more of a moral issue, not an economic issue, Pat Wendt said. Reform wouldn't hurt them economically, though they would feel "a lot better" about their employees.
The survey also asked the role that the government should play in addressing the issues of health care. Of the Nebraska owners, 49 percent said the government should play a "strong role" in guaranteeing health care coverage, while 35 percent said the government should not intervene.
"It's not an economic issue, it's a human issue," Pat Wendt said. "It's a fairness issue."

The survey provided a way to adequately represent a different perspective that might not otherwise be heard, Ledford said. The perspective of those like Kolnick and the Wendts.

"They deserve to be heard," Ledford said. "And they need to be heard."

paigecornwell@
dailynebraskan.com