Health care and the angry citizen

Talking with various contract metal fabricators over the past few months, I now realize what health care insurance means to them and other small-business owners across the country. Providing health care is a moral imperative.

Sure, providing good benefits makes a shop competitive. But at the end of a brutal 2009, when many owners faced shrinking margins and some struggled just to keep the doors open, dealing with increased health insurance premiums must have felt like a big slap in the face. But unlike what many of us saw on the cable news channels (if you even can call them “news” channels anymore), these small-business owners didn’t march on Washington to scream and shout. Instead, the best of them worked with insurers, perhaps found alternative health care plans if they could, swallowed hard, and paid the price to keep their employees covered. It was simply the right thing to do.



The health care reform legislation that passed over the weekend felt like the end of a long, boring movie with too many intermissions. The movie was chock-full of blatant overacting by cable news personalities and political activists who apparently don’t like themselves or their lives very much, have too much free time, and like to take out their frustrations in the national spotlight. If I had that much free time, I’d probably be unemployed, and if I were, I wouldn’t be wasting time shouting at people. I’d be looking for ways to feed my family. I wish fewer people spent time lavishing these angry citizens with attention, and more people spent time helping them find jobs or other avenues to happiness.

The real deal-making happened quietly. Drug companies worked so they could benefit from additional protection against generic drugs, and health insurers made sure they would benefit from the billions they’ll get in new premiums.To me, the whole health care debate wasn’t about socialism versus progressivism or any other nonsense we’ve heard from angry citizens. It was about balancing the basic moral imperative of providing health care with the competitive nature of the free market. Put another way, it was about the corporate shareholder versus the patient. Drug companies lavished millions on lawmakers because that money ensured the legislation would help shareholders. Patients (that is, taxpayers) now must support a health care system that is burdened with high drug costs and limits the use of generics. I know shareholders are better off—but how about patients?

The whole debate has been so muddled that it made me long for the clear-headed conversations I’ve had with business owners. When fabricators purchase equipment or make any change to operations, they do a cost analysis and concentrate on what matters: maximizing quality and margins while minimizing the time between getting an order and receiving cash for it. It can be a complex balancing act, but at least it’s based on logic, not political nonsense. Done right, it allows shop owners to grow, eventually employ more people, and support the community.

That’s why I feel small-business owners are the real heroes. Collectively, they do more to help the U.S. citizen than any elected official. And thankfully, they work quietly. They’re too busy to cause a fuss.