Neal St. Anthony: Health care tops list of employer concerns

For a second consecutive year, Minnesota employers cited runaway health care costs as their No. 1 concern, according to a statewide poll of companies conducted for the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.

The summer survey of 350 businesses that have at least five employees also found that three out of four executives believe that the state needs additional transportation-related revenue to repair roads and bridges and mass transit to alleviate bottlenecks and growing delays for employees and the shipment of goods.

The survey was taken before the Aug. 1 collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge across the Mississippi River. The bridge was known to be in poor condition, but critical structural repairs were delayed for reasons that are under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

About 55 percent of businesses said that "access to affordable health care" was their No. 1 or No. 2 state issue; 41 percent said that "controlling taxes and spending" was their first- or second-largest concern.

That was followed closely, at 38 percent, by those who said that kindergarten-through-high-school education was their biggest concern.

About 70 percent of Twin Cities employers and 59 percent of rural employers offer some kind of health insurance. Nearly all employers that have at least 100 workers offer health care insurance, compared with about half of businesses that have 20 or fewer employees, according to the survey conducted by the Himle Horner public affairs firm.

To cope with double-digit premium increases in recent years, a third of employers say that they have been passing on costs to employees; 28 percent have reduced coverage and 5 percent have dropped it. Only 17 percent said that they have not changed the way they do business when it comes to buying health care, the survey found.

There is growing support for everything from government-driven caps on premium increases to ensuring that all Minnesota kids are covered to consideration of single-payer plans, although there is little consensus, according to the survey.

Erin Sexton, the chamber's director of health policy, said that the board has directed the staff to propose a comprehensive reform package to the 2008 Legislature designed to encourage access, transparent pricing, slash red tape and emphasize health and wellness.

"The state's a breeding ground for change and innovation," Sexton said. "We can do things here now that will make improvements."

Employers appear frustrated with Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has refused to buy into a chamber-recommended gasoline tax increase for four years, and with a DFL-led Legislature that supported a half-cent sales tax in the seven-county metropolitan area to fund an additional $220 million or so in transit spending. Pawlenty has vetoed related bills that he said would cost too much.

Critics say that Minnesota is spending as much as $1 billion too little on transportation.

The chamber has argued for an incremental approach that would step up spending through a combination of taxes and revenue redistribution. Last year, it won voter approval for a plan that will direct nearly $300 million annually within five years to road-and-transit projects, as all proceeds from the motor vehicle tax are spent on transportation instead of shared with the state's general fund.

The state fuel tax hasn't gone up in nearly 20 years, since it was raised in 1988 by 3 cents per gallon, to 20 cents. Inflation has since eroded that value to 13 cents.

More than two-thirds of chamber members support the 5-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase, which has been opposed in the past by Pawlenty. And half support the metro-wide sales tax, which has been opposed by the chamber board.

Concerning environmental issues, about 90 percent of businesses want to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide -- the leading contributor to global warming -- from industrial smokestacks and coal-fired power plants.

Yet nearly 56 percent believe that we should build new coal plants. The nuclear power option also is favored by 56 percent as a way to fill the power gap over the next decade.

Minnesota utilities largely have backed away from new coal plants in favor of investments in conservation and wind power as they await new federal or regional/state rules governing CO² emissions, or for anticipated federal rules that are expected from a new president and congress after next year's elections.

The Minnesota Chamber is made up of 2,400 businesses, 80 percent of which employ at least 100 people.

Neal St. Anthony • 612-673-7144 • nstanthony@startribune.com