Marcie Strouse, an Iowa small business owner and member of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) on December 4. The hearing, titled “Making Health Care Affordable Again: Healing a Broken System,” focused on health insurance affordability for small employers and their employees.
Strouse shared her experience working with small business owners over the past two decades. She stated, “For more than two decades, I have helped small business owners navigate an increasingly complex health benefits landscape. I’ve sat across from owners who lie awake at night wondering how they will continue to afford employee coverage. And as a small business owner myself, I understand how an uneven playing field can hold back growth.”
She highlighted what she described as structural problems in the healthcare system: “The underlying problem is structural. Too many government regulations and too many industry middlemen separate patients and employers from the care they need. Today, nine out of every 10 dollars spent on healthcare flows through a third party, limiting employers’ and employees’ ability to shop for plans that truly fit their needs. It is time for Congress to legalize healthcare tools that increase choice, flexibility, and affordability.”
Earlier this year, NFIB published a policy paper addressing health insurance affordability for small businesses. The report found that employer-provided health coverage is becoming increasingly unsustainable for many small companies and outlined legislative actions Congress could take to support them.
According to NFIB’s latest Problems & Priorities survey, the cost of health insurance remains the top concern for small businesses—a ranking it has held since 1986.
NFIB represents America’s small and independent business owners nationwide as a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated solely to these businesses since its founding in 1943.
