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Health
Care Costs Rocket Employees
Vs. Employers
New
Workforce Offerings
HR
Technology Saves Money
PERFECT
STORM STRIKES CEO'S<
FAQ
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Perfect
Storm' Strikes CEOs
A new study says insurance premiums
will rise during the next few years,
squeezing profits and swelling the ranks
of the uninsured.
By Derek Reveron
Hispanic Business® magazine, April 2002
Small Hispanic-owned businesses and their
employees are among those who will be
hardest hit by rising healthcare costs
this year, according to industry analysts
and CEOs. HispanTelligence projections
indicate that Hispanics own about 1.4
million businesses in the United States,
but most of these businesses fall into
the categories most vulnerable to health
cost increases – sole
proprietorships and firms that employ
fewer than five people.
“Hispanics made an aggressive entry
into the world of running small
businesses in the last 10 years, and
rising [health insurance] premiums could
put some of them out of business,”
warns Miguel A. Fuentes, president and
CEO of Bronx-Lebanon Hospital in New
York.
A recent study by the National Coalition
on Health Care (NCHC) predicts that
premiums will increase 20 percent or more
for many small businesses this year, and
some will be forced to drop coverage
altogether. The study concludes that a
confluence of trends – recession,
rising unemployment, increases in
premiums, and the aftermath of the
terrorist attacks – is brewing a
“perfect storm” that will
increase the number of people in the
United States who lack health coverage
from 39 million in 2000 to 45 million by
the end of 2002.' (click
for full article)
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