Why Isn’t Health Care an Accepted Business Cost

There have been a great series of pieces on the Times small-business blog You’re the Boss about what effects the various health-care bills will have on how these businesses provide or don’t provide health care for various classes of workers. The consensus seems to be that all the businesses are going to have to spend more on health care, but also will find loopholes that will involve fewer of their employees being covered. Everyone loses.

This begs the question to our business-minded readers and coworkers: Why can’t we just have a full mandate and think of insuring employees properly as a mandatory sunk business cost? Can’t find a way to pay for health care for your employees? Guess you need to rethink your business model. Businesses already do this with things like taxes. You know you have to pay them, and you need to figure them into accounting. It seems like it shouldn’t be any different with health insurance.