Michael Moore's movie, Sicko, does an excellent job of making the case for single payer healthcare. He covers almost all of the bases including the fact that we have 45 million uninsured Americans; the fact that other industrialized nations with single payer health care systems have higher life expentancies; and the fact that these other nations spend far less money per capita on health care than the U.S. even though they recieve care that is generally as good and in many cases better than the care that we recieve here at home. However, one aspect of universal coverage through a single payer system that Michael Moore fails to discuss is the positive impact that such universal coverage would have on entrepreneurs and small business owners as well as our economy as a whole.
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We all understand that their is an rising gap between the have and have nots in this nation. While this is a major problem, another related problem goes unaddressed. Year after year, there continue to be fewer and fewer start up businesses, which is a major concern since small firms have historically created most innovations and as much as 75% of new jobs. In fact, the percentage of non-farm, private-sector workers who were self-employed sank to an all time record low in 2002 of 8.5%.
Of course, one of the largest barriers to starting a small business in this nation is the cost of health insurance. Would be entrepreneurs are often dissuaded from leaving their current job and starting up a new company due to the fact that their health insurance premiums would skyrocket. Other would be entrepreneurs have a "pre-existing condition," which makes them uninsurable unless they continue to get health insurance through their current employer. One solution to this market disincentive to starting one's own business would be to implement a single payer health care system so that would be entrepreneurs are no longer deterred from entering the marketplace by exponentially rising health care costs, or the unavailability of health insurance due to a "pre-existing condition." A study done by Ohio economist, Alison Wellington, found that our self employment rate would rise by 3.5% if universal health coverage was available.
Implementing single payer health care would also be good for big businesses and major corporations because it would lift a huge and ever increasing burden off of their shoulders. The resulting reduction in costs would make it much easier for these corporations to turn a profit without cutting jobs or employee benefits. For more on the positive impact that single payer health care would have for many major corporations including all of the major auto manufacuturers, read this article by Morton Mintz.