Government risk pools need sharp auditors to monitor medical inflation

As a small business executive, one of the interesting things from the health debate has been the creation of small business risk pools. To some politicians, the solution is for the government to operate small business pools for health insurance purposes.

Like everything, bigger businesses get a better break because of the size of the risk pool. If there are 5000 or more employees paying for health insurance, the risk of a catastrophic disease is much lower than my business with only four employees. With more people sharing the risk, it’s easy from an economic standpoint to see why major health carriers charge a lower per person premium.

So, if the government is able to build a large pool of small businesses together, that would mean that collectively we would enjoy a lower rate for our insurance premiums.

In a Wall Street Journal article published several weeks ago, the newspaper reported that the Kauffman-RAND Institute for Entrepreneurship Public Policy, a Santa Monica, Calif., research group reported that median cost of health insurance for businesses with fewer than 25 employees rose 43.5 percent between 2000 and 2005.

Yet, here’s a question. If I am in an insurance group with 5000 other small business types with a 30-percent medical claim to premium dollar, how can I keep the group from seeing a traditional nine to 14-percent increase in health insurance costs?

Every year, the health insurance industry tell small businesses like mine that medical inflation has caused them to increase my rates by 10-percent. Stephen Geri, an insurance broker with 30 years of experience said if you were to do a simple analysis of the health insurance industry, you would see them doling out these amounts for each premium dollar paid from businesses like mine:

1. 30 cents to pay medical claims.

2. 21 cents to pay administrative costs to include claims processing

and commissions to agents.

3. 49 cents in profit.

As an accountant, I would have to question why a business that is making a 49-percent profit is telling me that because of medical inflation that my policy renewal will increase by 10-percent.

For a small business pool to stay competitive, it would need someone with the experience to monitor the claims to expense ratio for everyone in it. I believe that a government pool for small businesses would work, only if it was managed by sharp-mined auditors that would question medical inflation for any industry that has profit margins like this.

SBA shouldn't take a victory lap for helping minority businesses win government contracts

I had to laugh when I read Robb Mandelbaum's article about how the recent SBA released their figures to the media earlier this month. He wrote that the SBA "took a victory lap" for helping government contracting to award more than $93 billion to small businesses like mine.

I agree with Mandelbaum that change is needed for small businesses to compete for these programs. Consider the SBA's first YouTube video. It's a flashy video with what my friend, Matt Scherer, would call "high production" value but nothing of substance. The lastest SBA promotional offering is like dating the beautiful girl but finding that the family dog is better at conversation.

As someone who is working with other minority businesses to help learn about these programs, I have these suggestions for the SBA and other small business contracting programs.

First, it shouldn't take two weeks to reach a small business government professional. Small business executives would be better served if the money spent on the YouTube video was spent for more contracting reps who responded to questions.

More importantly, the government shouldn't categorize small business awards when a large company purchases a small company. For example, a Fortune 500 firm purchases a smaller company because they have government contracts. I believe that when that happens, the SBA should not categorize them as an award to a small business.

Small businesses bring innovation and a different perspective to government contracting circles. We need our government to add more effective contracting reps and to change the language of what qualifies as a small business.

New FTC regulations will require stronger security guidelines for small businesses

With the proposed FTC "red flag" regulations starting Nov. 1, small businesses will have to truly audit their security processes.
For example, take the hotel keys given to you when you check in to a hotel. Most of us don't know that the black stripe on the back of the card contains their personal information, such as credit card info, drivers license, and home address.
Under the new regulation, will hotel owners have to shred those cards after customers give it back to them? That's just one of the many interpretations from this new federal statute.
If you are a small business person I would contact a security professional to review all processes concerning the security of your customers information. A good resource is an American Society for Industrial Security member to find someone who is fully certified to conduct a security audit.

Raul Espinosa: David against the Goliath of government contracting

Raul Espinosa deserves a pat on the back. He has been fighting an uphill battle with three size protests to the Small Business Administration over six years and has finally won. The problem now is that his victory against Unisen may not result in any change with the contract.
A recent article from the Fairness in Procurement Alliance highlights his struggle with size protests and the toothless state of the Small Business Administration's rulings, with him saying, "...size protests are ignored by Federal Agencies; mishandled by bureaucrats; trounced by corporate attorneys... Winning a size protest is no gaurantee to get back the contract". Unisen, the large company that won the contract from the Air Force will not be punished as a result of the ruling.
This is nothing new to the small business community though, last year 47 businesses with more than 500 employees were on the government's small business contract database. This type of fraud allowed them to pull in over three billion dollars in contracts reserved for small businesses.
I agree with the FPA in saying that we need to put the bite back in the dog by allowing for large fines or some other form of harsh punishment for "size misrepresentation". In addition, the illegal exemptions from the Federal Acquisition Regulations that large businesses use to cheat out small business contracts, such as the GSA and foreign exemptions, are really hurting the small business community.
Through his continued efforts, Espinosa has convinced the SBA's Office of advocacy to pursue the removal of these exemptions to the FAR. We are starting to see the ball start rolling and hopefully this is a harbinger of good things to come. But for now someone needs to shake Espinosa's hand for me.

Welcome to my blog

As a member of the Southwest Minority Supplier Diversity Council, my goal with this blog is to help other small business executives learn how to work together as a cohesive group. Here in south Texas, business opportunities abound for those who know how to find them.

My goal as the chief blogger for this is to share programs and opportunities throughout our region. This includes my home of San Antonio as well as Austin, El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley.

If you are an executive who wants to grow his or her business, the SMSDC is a good investment of time and effort. Through this blog, we'll help you uncover the opportunities and possibilities for business expansion.