While 85 percent of small business owners said their operations are going well or even excellent, the cost of providing employee healthcare coverage remains a significant challenge, according to a survey commissioned and released by Public Private Strategies and funded by left-leaning think tank The Commonwealth Fund.
This challenge has led small business owners, who are historically conservative, to become more open to health insurance policies like "Medicare for All" or public health insurance options, according to the survey. Researchers came to this conclusion after conducting interviews with informants, two focus groups and a national survey of 500 small business employers.
More than half (58 percent) of small business owners surveyed said they somewhat support or strongly back Medicare for All. Relatedly, 73 percent of small business owners somewhat or strongly support proposals that would allow Americans to buy into Medicaid or Medicare programs. Seventy percent strongly support or somewhat back the idea of creating a public option health plan.
"Surprisingly, there was an openness to concepts that might be construed as extreme, like Medicare for All or a single-payer system," the researchers said. "Other options, such as a Medicare or Medicaid buy-in, also found favor. Though business owners tend to be a conservative group, we did see an unexpected and almost apolitical frame on the issue of healthcare."
Read the full report here.
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