Small business owners and entrepreneurs throughout the US are facing impossible choices because of the skyrocketing costs of health insurance premiums, and, in many cases, the lack of access to coverage. Here are some of their stories.
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Connecticut Commercial Maintenance | West Hartford, Connecticut
State Health Insurance Program Provides Hope in Connecticut
Kevin Galvin
Connecticut Commercial Maintenance
West Hartford, Connecticut
Full-time employees: 3
Kevin Galvin is the cofounder of an organization working to reform the healthcare system so small business owners can access affordable health insurance for their employees. The organization reaches out to the public through widespread communication in both English and Spanish. Next on the list: Mandarin.
Kevin’s other job? The one that pays the bills? He’s a small business owner who can’t afford to offer his employees health insurance.
Kevin owns Connecticut Commercial Maintenance, a business doing handy work for national retailers. Although he offered coverage to employees at one point, group health insurance has been out of his financial grasp since the 1980s. Kevin hopes the Connecticut health insurance program, SustiNet, will allow him to extend coverage to his 3 valuable employees as soon as possible. Kevin says SustiNet should mesh cohesively with the federal insurance exchanges—online health insurance marketplaces—that will be available to all states in 2014 thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
“It’s about real human stories based around not having healthcare—young men and women not being able to take care of their families.”
Kevin became interested in healthcare after a near-tragic incident in the ‘80s. When a gentleman on his staff “nearly died of a staph infection due to an unattended cavity,” Kevin was prompted to ask his employees when they had last seen dentists. Their responses shocked him: none of his employees had received a dental exam in their entire lives.
Kevin provided insurance for his employees in the ‘80s, but only for 3 years. Costs rose dramatically, forcing him to drop coverage and rendering him unable to obtain it since. Kevin’s lack of access to affordable coverage curbed his ability to create new jobs and help the economy thrive. At one point, he had the chance to expand the business, but his search for high-level technicians was unsuccessful. He simply couldn’t compete with companies who could hand out health insurance to the professionals who would have been the foundation of his business’s expansion.
“We’re very lucky to have the staff we do have and we want to provide health insurance for them.”
Kevin eventually decided it was time for a fresh start. His new approach was to “hire entry-level people and train them to a professional level,” which ended up “develop[ing] great loyalty.” With a group of employees he trusts and values, Kevin is optimistic about his business’s future. He hopes to soon offer coverage through Connecticut’s SustiNet, an option that will have “a very good marriage with federal healthcare reform” and will provide “the opening to get healthcare to our folks.”
