DaytonDailyNews.com

KETTERING — Small businesses feel health care costs in a big way.

"It's the second biggest expense we have behind labor costs," said Rick Little, president of Starwin Industries, a 50-man machine shop on Woodman Drive in Kettering. "For us, probably 8 or 10 percent of our gross receipts go to health insurance."

And it's not getting better, he said. For much of the last decade, Starwin's health insurance costs have climbed by double digits each year, mirroring a national trend and further squeezing the company's bottom line in a time of intense global competition.

Echoing a concern shared by many, Little asked: How can a small company survive in such an environment?

He doesn't see any answers coming from presidential candidates Barack Obama or John McCain. Although both candidates are proposing major changes to the nation's health care system, "neither one of them sounds like anything I want to sign up for," Little said, chuckling and declining to say who he'll vote for.

Sen. Obama (D-Ill.) would offer a national health insurance plan for people who can't find affordable private plans. He'd pour billions into subsidies and require employers who don't offer "meaningful" health benefits to chip in, too.

Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) would provide tax credits, $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families, to offset the cost of insurance plans with or without an employer. The idea is that along with some systematic reforms, the increased choice and competition would drive health insurance costs down, increasing accessibility. McCain would finance that, in part, by taxing employer-contributed health benefits.

Little said Starwin picks up 80 percent of its workers' health insurance tab. A typical worker with a family pays about $55 a week, he said. But with rising costs, the company has had to increase employee deductibles and co-pays and pray in the meantime no one gets sick.

"We had a couple of guys who had heart attacks (and) our rates went through the roof," Little said. "And, unfortunately, when they (died), the rates went back down."

Little, whose company belongs to the Dayton Tooling & Manufacturing Association, would like to see similar companies and associations be able to band together — either locally, statewide or nationally — to purchase health insurance. The larger member pool would drop costs and ease the strain on businesses and employees, he said.

"We're doing everything we can," Little said. "For the kind of work we have, we have to keep a top-notch employee base. As part of that you have to give them good insurance and good benefits and that's just getting tougher and tougher."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7408

or agottschlich@DaytonDailyNews.com.