Poll: Small Business Owners Want Healthcare System Overhaul

According to a new Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index poll, U.S. small-business owners think the current healthcare system needs a drastic overhaul, and many would even support a taxpayer-funded national health insurance program. The small-business owners -- who are usually loathe to sacrifice independence-- are surprisingly in step with the nation at large, 55 percent of whom consider the healthcare system to have major problems, and 16 percent of whom believe the healthcare system is in a state of crisis.

59 percent of the small-business owners surveyed believe the healthcare system needs a complete overhaul, while 27 percent think the system needs minor changes, and 12 percent believe the healthcare system works either well or somewhat well.

A majority of small business owners oppose scrapping the current healthcare system in favor of a government-run and taxpayer-funded national healthcare plan, but they do so by a margin of only 6 percent (49 percent to 43 percent). Americans in general prefer a government run system to the current healthcare system, 51 percent to 39 percent.

84 percent of small-business owners think offering an adequate health insurance plan would help the attract the best qualified employees, 83 percent believe this would also reduce the likelihood employees would leave their company, and 81 percent think adequate healthcare would make employees more loyal to their company. Also, 66 percent of survey-responders think adequate health coverage would make their employees more productive.

Despite small-business owner believing their are significant benefits to offering health insurance to their employees, a majority of 55 percent still don't offer coverage, while 43 percent do provide health insurance. Small-business owners reasons for not providing health coverage to employees range from saying they cannot afford to do so (45 percent), to saying they just don't want to offer coverage (22 percent), while nearly one-third (31 percent) have some other reason.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of small-business owners have coverage themselves, outside of there business, 17 percent receive coverage through their company, and 16 percent don't have coverage. The small-business owners with health insurance from outside their company obtain coverage on their spouses insurance one-third of the time, buy into a separate insurance plan one-third of the time, and all others have another kind of health coverage.

One way small-business owners would be more likely to offer employees coverage is if they receive some kind of incentive; 55 percent would offer coverage for a financial incentive provided by the government. Also, a majority of small-business owners would recommend that one of their employees use a medical treatment clinic sponsored by either a major retailer or drug store chain (46 percent to 38 percent).

The focus on healthcare due to the upcoming presidential election, and the fact that a major medical crisis is one of the foremost concerns of the average American, combined with even many small-business owners willing to support a government-run healthcare system, could mean radical changes are in store for the American healthcare system.

These Gallup Poll results were taken from telephone interviews with 603 small-business owners, and the survey was conducted on July 12-23, 2007. There is margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Source: "Small-Business Owners See Need for Overhaul of U.S. Healthcare", The Gallup Poll