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Thank you to our gold-level sponsor of our May 20th -Your Small Business and the New Minnesota Health Insurance Exchange
Governor Dayton recognizes Small Business Minnesota
Governor Dayton recognizes Small Business Minnesota
At the signing of the bill that created MNsure, the new Minnesota health insurance exchange, Governor Dayton recognized Small Business Minnesota for our work toward putting Minnesota’s small businesses ahead of special interests. Twelve Small Business Minnesota members testified to provide a real-life business perspective to the process. Ours was the only organization that brought forth small business owners to testify on this bill.
Under the federal Affordable Care Act, every state must have a health insurance exchange. Small Business Minnesota worked to ensure the exchange would best meet the needs of small businesses being crushed under the weight of health insurance costs.
Small Business Minnesota achieved all three of its objectives:
1. A strong active purchaser model that will work to ensure health insurance plans are the best quality at the best price. However, its implementation is being delayed one year.
2. A strong oversight board free from conflicts of interest; those who profit from the Minnesota health insurance exchange cannot oversee it.
3. The insurance industry will pick up the nominal “cost of doing business,” not small business owners. The insurance industry obtains access to 1.2 million customers, including 300,000 new customers and millions, if not billions, in new sales.
Many of you shared your stories, which we then shared in testimony before more than a dozen House and Senate committees. We also wrote letters and met with legislators one-on-one.
Our news conference at the Capitol received coverage by several media outlets, and just before the last committee meeting this op-ed appeared in the StarTribune and was referenced during House floor debate.
Minnesota ranked among best states to own a small business
Governing magazine reports that small businesses care about more than taxes. A lot more.
In a survey ranking the most (and least) small-business-friendly states, small businesses listed training and networking above taxes, as well as the state’s economy and its professional licensing procedures. In fact, the majority of respondents did not think their taxes were unfairly high, reports Mike Maciag of Governing. “The larger the business, though, the more negatively it perceived its tax rates,” writes Maciag. Read the full survey report here.
The survey, conducted by Thumbtack, an online marketplace for businesses, ranks states and cities for business friendliness, and places Minnesota 11th on the list, ahead of neighboring Wisconsin at 17th.
