Portability can keep families healthy through an unhealthy economy.

In December, 524,000 Americans lost their jobs. These numbers rounded out a full year of job losses, the worst since 1945, in the midst of a recession that began last December as the housing crisis began to spread to the broader economy. As a result, the total number of Americans out of work now stands at 11.1 million people.

For the millions of Americans who are now facing unemployment, there's a genuinely unnerving quality about the idea of waking up on a Monday morning and not knowing when your next paycheck will come or the manner of anxiously checking your voicemail for the callback about your last job interview. Uncertainty abounds, but the bills aren't going anywhere.

As if that idea isn't scary enough, imagine that losing your job also means losing your health insurance.  For the young and healthy, this may be little more than a passing thought, but for the 43.8% of Americans who suffer from at least one chronic condition, losing your job is not only scary,

Read the rest of this entry »

It's 2009!  With a brand new year, there are many reasons to be hopeful about 2009. Change seems to be a common theme this season, and with 2009, you can expect to see plenty of it. While change can sometimes bring uncertainty, there's something that can be said for the ability of ordinary Americans and small businesses to get through even the most uncertain times.

You can certainly feel confident in knowing that there are millions of small businesses out there that are continuing to keep the economy afloat. Small businesses represent 99.9% of the 27.2 million businesses in the United States and remain the prime drivers of growth in both good times and in bad. Eight years ago, small businesses bailed us out of the 2001 recession, generating 100% of all new jobs and jumpstarting the recovery. This year, we should look for a repeat.

There are still many challenges that we will continue to face nevertheless. With a new administration and a new Congress, we will see policy debates about the economy flaring up again in ways that will have real consequences for small businesses. Some of the first items on the agenda for the new administration will come in the way of restrictive workplace regulations.   Read the rest of this entry »