Healthcare Position Statement May 2010

Issue
Rising health care costs have become an increasing concern for nonprofit organizations both as employers and service providers. Many Wisconsin nonprofits offer health care coverage to their employees. However, nonprofit employers face escalating health insurance costs that make it extremely difficult for them to continue offering affordable health care coverage to their employees. Benefit and workforce reductions due to rising health care costs greatly diminishes the ability of nonprofit organizations to deliver programs and vital services to communities and individuals in need. In 2005 (latest year for which data is available), nonprofits paid over $48 billion for employee health care coverage and related benefits (not including pension plan contributions or payroll taxes) – over 4.6% of their expenditures. Since 1999, health insurance costs for small firms have increased 113 percent, according to the National Federation of Independent Business. Since then, the cost of health care coverage has skyrocketed and nonprofits now face difficult decisions about whether to cut benefits for employees or cut staff positions. 

Impact on Nonprofits and the Communities They Serve
As service providers, charitable groups see every day what happens to Americans who cannot afford quality care. Nonprofits, particularly those that deliver health and human services, incur substantial costs associated with serving the 46 million Americans who do not have health care coverage, as well as the millions of other individuals and families whose health coverage is insufficient to cover the costs of care and prevention. As Congress and the Obama Administration continue to move forward with health care reform, the concerns of the nonprofit sector arise from their role as employers purchasing health insurance for employees and their families, as providers of medical care and social services to individuals who are uninsured or underinsured and as advocates for the needs of local communities. 

Our Position
The Wisconsin Nonprofits Association supports health care reform that focuses on accessible and affordable medical care including: 

• Assistance to help low-income individuals and families secure health insurance 
• Access to health insurance exchanges for both individuals and organizations to help obtain the best quality and most affordable coverage available 
• Individual responsibility, including provisions for “portability” so that insurance coverage is tied to 
• the individual and not the employer or local
• System responsibility, enhanced by provisions prohibiting exclusions for prior health conditions or current illness
• Equal access, for the nearly 14 million nonprofit employees, to the same range of health care options available to other public or private employees
• Equivalent incentives for both for-profit and nonprofit employers to provide health care and wellness programs for their employees
• Costs that are distributed fairly without placing increased burdens on low and middle-income Americans 
• Support for small employers, including nonprofit employers 
• Provide adequate federal funding which does not shift the funding burden for health care reform to the states

For more information: Mary Riordan or 608-772-5962