What’s Worrying Small Business Owners?

The price of health insurance continues its 20-year reign as the number one problem for small business owners. More than 56 percent say it is a "critical problem," according to a 2008 survey of small business owners.

The number one ranking of the price of health insurance is nearly unanimous across all 53 sub-categories of businesses analyzed in the survey. Those were the results of the 2008 Small Business Problems and Priorities survey, which is done every four years by the National Federation of Independent Business and Wells Fargo. The “Cost of Health Insurance” problem still overshadows its number two rival, “Energy Costs, Except Electricity,” by 14 percentage points.

Health insurance costs have risen 129 percent since 1999, 84 percent since 2001. These huge cost increases have forced some small business owners to terminate their employee health plans while preventing others, including new entrants, from instituting one in the first place. The result is that approximately 59 percent of the small firms (3-199 employees) now offer a health plan, down from 68 percent in 2000.

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