New CBIA survey cites health care as top concern for businesses

September 07, 2006

DeStefano has plan to lower health care costs, help businesses succeed: Gov. Rell says no need for any reform

New Haven: John DeStefano - Democratic nominee for governor - says the recent Survey of Connecticut Businesses released today by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) shows that Gov. Rell's lack of leadership on health care is hurting Connecticut's ability to grow jobs.

"Business leaders clearly believe health care costs are hurting their ability to grow jobs but incredibly, Gov. Rell remains silent," says Derek Slap - DeStefano spokesperson. "The CBIA survey is evidence that the business community is looking for leadership - someone who understands that the current health care system is hurting business and hurting Connecticut?s families."

According to the CBIA survey of Connecticut's businesses "For the fifth straight year, executives identified health-care costs as their biggest cost concern. Eighty percent of respondents said their health-care costs rose over the last year. Most (58 percent) reported cost increases of more than 10 percent. And a significant majority of respondents (85 percent) expected health benefit costs to continue rising next year." The survey continues, "The top cost concern for Connecticut manufacturers is the high cost of health-care benefits. Even with the increases in energy costs over the past year, more than half of manufacturers (60 percent) said rising health-care costs are still their biggest cost concern."

Incredibly, Gov. Rell believes there is no need for reform and was recently quoted in newhavenindependent.org as saying that throughout the course of the campaign, "We'll just be talking about what we've already been doing and some of the things we want to continue to do." Gov. Rell refusal to address Connecticut's health care crisis - how it affects the business climate - is at odds with what business leaders believe government officials should do. According to the survey, More than half of the respondents (55 percent) said government officials should reduce the cost of doing business in Connecticut."

DeStefano's universal health care plan is anchored by two major reforms. First, it creates a private health insurance one-stop marketplace, the Connecticut HealthCare Consortium (CHC), from which small businesses, families and individuals can purchase health insurance coverage, thus combining the small business and individual markets to create a large risk pool to open up access and drive down costs. This larger pool will dramatically lower costs for everyone, including those who already have insurance.

Second, the plan reforms the state's corporate income tax structure to provide all businesses with the tax relief needed to provide affordable, portable, and prevention-based coverage to every family in Connecticut. To assist small businesses and expand their opportunity to provide health care, the corporate income tax will be made more simple and fair. Corporate loopholes will be closed, the rate will be reduced, small- and medium-sized businesses that provide health insurance will pay no corporate tax, and large companies will be eligible for a 50 percent reduction if they provide affordable quality health care for their employees.