Jack & Jill Politics

And it looks like Sen. Snowe may have wee little problem
Maine’s Small Businesses Tell Sen. Snowe They Oppose Mandates Without a Public Option
How many times have Republicans lectured us that we shouldn't be imposing unreasonable burdens on small businesses who, they tell us, create 80 percent of the new jobs in America? A zillion?

So what do you think Olympia Snowe thought when representatives of Maine's small business community told their Senator they opposed a mandate on business to purchase insurance for their employees unless there is a public option? HuffPo's Ryan Grim reports:

Snowe met with Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition; Clifford Mohr, president of Group Dynamic Inc.; Greg Dugal, executive director of the Maine Innkeepers Association; Tarren Bragdon, CEO of the Maine Heritage Policy Center; Dean Powers, director of the Maine Small Business Coalition; Richard Grotton, CEO of the Maine Restaurant Association; David Spellman, President of the Pratt Financial Group; and several other lobbyists.

She quizzed the bunch on what they thought of the proposal to mandate that individuals purchase health insurance. She added that she was considering requiring business with more than 50 employees to pay 100 percent of the cost of subsidies for their employees' health insurance.

Small business representatives told Snowe that they were opposed to any mandates that came without a public option and that such an alternative was desperately needed for small business, which can't afford the rising cost of health insurance for their employees. The costs make them unable to compete on a level playing field with bigger companies, which can use their size to leverage lower prices. Lobbyists representing larger corporations took the opposite position.

So, the businesses that Republicans believe create 80 percent of new jobs are against a mandate without a public option, because, it would seem, those businesses believe a public option will give them a more affordable means to meet the mandate. Makes perfect sense.

But their larger competitors don't want their smaller competitors to have a more affordable means to provide health insurance to their employees, because they want to maintain a competitive advantage over the small businesses that create 80 percent of the jobs.

So why isn't Maine's Senator insisting on a public option? Someone needs to ask Snowe whether she supports small businesses and job creation in Maine or, instead, thinks Maine's job-creating businesses should remain at a competitive disadvantage? And she's going to need a better answer than “Chuck Grassley and my party told me it's off the table.”
http://www.seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7445

Large companies know that if they are not the only means of good health care, they will lose the chains most of their employees feel towards their jobs they have with them. And that would be most unfair…NOT.

Before they left Washington for the August recess, the Finance group, known as the “Gang of Six,” had crafted the outlines of a package that trimmed more than $100 billion from the House price tag and jettisoned a government-run insurance option, which has become a rallying cry for many liberals but is opposed by Republicans. The senators also were looking to provide insurance subsidies to a smaller, less affluent group than the House bill would.

After meeting via teleconference for more than an hour late Thursday, the Senate group is now looking to go further. They support a requirement that all individuals carry health insurance, but they are considering creating a bare-bones insurance policy that would be easier for people to afford without government help. They are also talking about further reducing the number of people eligible for subsidies, said an aide familiar with the talks.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32517300/ns/politic…