A commentary by Bianca Blomquist, the California director for the Small Business Majority, titled “Hospitals’ opaque pricing is crushing California’s small businesses,” leads with this blunt statement: “Small business owners are working hard to keep their doors open while offering employees quality benefits, but rising healthcare costs are making that harder every year. One major driver of these costs is hospital pricing abuse, which often goes unnoticed but is devastating to California’s small business communities.”
Ms. Blomquist writes that “large hospital systems have used their market dominance to drive up the prices they charge commercial payers, often billing them more than three times what Medicare pays for the same care. Those inflated costs fall squarely on the shoulders of small businesses and working families through higher premiums and lower take-home pay.
“When hospital bills keep rising, it becomes nearly impossible for small firms to continue providing coverage to their employees. While entrepreneurs want to do right by their workers and offer robust health benefits, they are often forced to make painful choices about wages, benefits and business growth as premiums skyrocket each year. These decisions don’t just impact employees — when small businesses reduce benefits it can cost them top talent.”
Read more of Ms. Blomquist’s thoughts on the issue here.
