To improve healthcare, Florida lawmakers should let affordability, choice be their guide | Guest Opinion

Running a successful business is challenging under the best circumstances. But, over the past few years, Florida business owners have faced unprecedented obstacles, and Hispanic businesses have been disproportionately affected.

During the first year of the pandemic, Latinos had PPP loans approved at just half the rate of white-owned businesses, meaning they had fewer resources to weather the storm. Now, more than two years after the start of the pandemic and with business owners facing rising costs, we need to promote the economic advancement of Florida’s Hispanic business community, which will benefit every Floridian.

Florida policymakers must address rising costs as business owners, their employees and their customers struggle with high inflation. This includes addressing the rising cost of healthcare coverage.

Offering health plans that ensure quality coverage at lower costs is necessary for business owners to recruit and retain good employees and it has a significant effect on their bottom line. But for employers, providing healthcare coverage already is a large and increasing expense.

The Kaiser Family Foundation’s 2021 Employer Health Benefits Survey found that between 2016 and 2021, there was a 22% total increase in employer premium contributions to family coverage health plans. And when employers have to spend more on healthcare, it means they are forced to spend less in areas such as research and development, marketing, workforce training and creating more jobs.

It’s also important to get this right for employees, who rely on the health plan offered by their employer to make sure that they and their families receive the care they need, at a cost they can afford.

Business owners’ and employees’ interests should be aligned. How do they get the best healthcare coverage at the lowest cost?

A recent survey of U.S. employers conducted by Willis Towers Watson shows just how significant a concern healthcare is for employers. More than half (54%) of employers anticipate that their healthcare costs will be over budget this year and more than 70% expect moderate to significant healthcare cost increases over the next three years.

For the good of Florida’s economy and for the well-being of workers, our lawmakers need to address the concerns of our business community. There’s no magic bullet to solve high healthcare costs, but I know one thing for certain: Additional government red tape and mandates for how employers provide healthcare will do more harm than good.

Unfortunately, every year we see efforts in the Florida Legislature to add more red tape to our healthcare system by involving the government more deeply in the choices that employers must make about how to provide affordable health coverage.

Above all, adding more government mandates will only increase costs for employers and patients, not lower them. No two businesses are the same, and employers need more options to best match their health plan to their employees’ needs. To prevent cost increases for employers and patients, we need policies that give employers more flexibility in choosing the healthcare options that provide their employees with the best care at the lowest cost.

During next year’s legislative session, I hope lawmakers use affordability and choice as guiding principles when they try to improve the quality and lower the cost of our healthcare choices. After all our employers and workers have been through these past few years, we owe them a helping hand.

Julio Fuentes is president and CEO of the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.