Today, we’re going to be discussing a topic that is very close to my heart - healthcare. For small business owners, this is one of the biggest burdens we have to carry. Yes, we recognize our moral duty to do right by our employees, but with the prohibitively high cost of healthcare in this country, it feels as if we are sacrificing our business to do this.

Given the enormity of this problem, some states have tried to mitigate the cost to small business owners. In New York, the government allows businesses with 2 - 11 employees to participate in the “Healthy New York” Program. Thus, business owners who qualify are able to buy health insurance from the regular insurance companies at half price. Unfortunately, Healthy New York does not extend coverage to sole proprietors. As such, the premium for a barebones HMO policy from the cheapest health insurance company (HIP): $700 / month. No, I did not mistype - the premium is really $700 per month.

That is why most of us entrepreneurs are excited that the President has decided to keep his campaign promise to reform our current healthcare (with an eye toward drastically reducing the cost of the insurance). Though the President has outlined a few principles (thankfully emphasizing the urgency of passing this legislation), it is up to Congress to decide on a model. One of the leading voices on healthcare issues in the senate is Sen. Teddy Kennedy. And, in 2006, his home state, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed legislature that mandated health insurance for all of its residents.

Wow!! State mandated healthcare - that is good news, right?! Well according to today’s featured article from BusinessWeek, not necessarily. This Massachusetts law “requires individuals to have health insurance and businesses with 11 or more full-time employees (or full-time equivalents) to offer it.” Unfortunately, when the legislature was contemplating the model for their healthcare system, they decided to, "'first…get universal coverage and then bear down on costs,'" This decision has proven to be disastrous for small business owners financially. According to one entrepreneur, her healthcare cost increased by 25% last year alone!

Obviously, using the Massachusetts plan as a model for our new national healthcare system would not be feasible for us. Given the potential impact of this new program, we have to become more engaged in the decision-making process. That is why we really need to be knowledgeable about the different models that Congress might use as a template for the national system. As such, review the featured piece, and use the information to provide feedback to the President (via his virtual town halls) and your congressional representatives. As I’ve said countless times before, “knowledge is power” - come on people, let’s start taking our power back!

It's too soon to call Massachusetts' three-year-old health-care reform a success or failure…

But questions about the state's experience linger, not least because President Barack Obama is expected to take a nod from the Massachusetts plan in developing his own model. Will employers continue to pay for benefits in a full-blown recession? How can anyone manage skyrocketing costs? Are stingy benefits better than none at all? And, most of all, how well can a single wealthy state—especialy one that, before the reforms, had only a 10% uninsured rate—inform the national debate?