Long Thompson Proposes Insurance Pool To Help Small Businesses

Ran across this today...

Any other small biz folks out there with thoughts on this? My small biz does not offer healthcare - too expensive - so we're on our own to figure it out...

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/17172773/detail.html

Long Thompson Proposes Insurance Pool To Help Small Businesses

POSTED: 6:00 pm EDT August 12, 2008
UPDATED: 7:51 pm EDT August 12, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS -- Democratic candidate for governor Jill Long Thompson announced major health care proposal Tuesday, one she said won't cost taxpayers anything.

Long Thompson told a crowd gathered at a west-side business that she wants to divert 3 cents from the existing cigarette tax to create a health insurance pool for small businesses, 6News' Norman Cox reported.

Long Thompson said a government agency would be set up to manage the pool, and that businesses would be offered tax incentives to join.
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"We have about 90,000 small businesses here in Indiana, but only about 34 percent of them are able to provide health insurance benefits to their employees," Long Thompson said. "In 2006 and 2007, we had over a million Hoosiers who, at one point or another, did not have health insurance coverage."

The cigarette tax currently goes to help fund the Healthy Indiana program, launched by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels. Long Thompson said the diversion wouldn't hurt that program because she would use the money that already subsidizes health insurance for low-income Hoosiers.

Long Thompson said her plan is based largely on existing small business health insurance pools in Cleveland and New Mexico. She said those have been successful in getting coverage for hundreds of thousands of workers.

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Permalink Reply by William on August 13, 2008 at 10:12am: Sounds great if the insurance offered is actually affordable. My brother-in-law works for a small business and cannot afford the health insurance they offer. But since they offer it, he does not qualify for assistance from the state. So, he has no health insurance.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Allan Fuelling on August 13, 2008 at 10:16am: My wife got some quotes for our family of four...it's somewhere in the neighborhood of $600/month using after-tax dollars out-of-pocket...ugghhh; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Michael Lombardi on August 14, 2008 at 4:37pm: I'm weary of anyone's claims that taxpayers will get something for nothing. This sounds like it looks good on paper and is what plenty of people want to hear, but it also sounds like it's "too good to be true" ...which in my experience means it is.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Doug on August 14, 2008 at 4:49pm: The insurance industry cansuck at times these days, I know because I work in the health insurance industry for a not-for profit group that works with the small business owners and self employes. When I am meeting with people I find that employers either provide really affordable but cheap insurance or they provide good insurance to their employees but it cost to much for them to sign up. Now if Obama gets elected and does what he says he is going to do everyone will get state health insurance and I will be out of a job.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Michael Lombardi on August 14, 2008 at 5:23pm: Doug said:
Now if Obama gets elected and does what he says he is going to do everyone will get state health insurance and I will be out of a job.

You don't have to worry about that happening. And from what I know of his plan, it in no way elimates health insurance.; ▶ Reply to This