small business

When Gov. John Hickenlooper signed House Bill 13-1136, the Job Protection and Civil Rights Enforcement Act, into law early this week, he took a crucial step in ensuring safer workplaces for all Coloradans.

Bob Semro's piece on a survey showing that Colorado's health insurance exchange will benefit employers (Straight talk on health care reform: More small businesses likely to offer health benefits under state's exchange) was posted as part of Viewpoints on the Kaiser Health News website.

This appeared in Health Relay, the Race is on for a Healthier Colorado, an online publication of the Colorado Health Foundation.

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Bob Semro is a health care policy analyst with the Bell Policy Center, a non-partisan policy research center that advocates public policies that reflect progressive values.

Editor's note: This commentary originally appeared in Health Policy Solutions.

More small businesses say they will offer health insurance for their employees once the Colorado Health Insurance Exchange is up and running in 2014, according to a Kaiser Permanente survey of business owners.

The survey found that, after hearing a short description of the exchange, the number of employers who said they would offer health benefits to some or all employees jumped to 59 percent, up from 52 percent currently.

(The Bell Policy Center and the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute co-released this report in Colorado for the Fiscal Policy Institute.)

By Kevin C Keller
The Denver Post

Immigrant-owned small businesses bring in an average of $684 million a year to Colorado, according to a newly released study by the Fiscal Policy Institute in New York.

By Allison Sylte
Denver Business Journal

Immigrants are 10 percent more likely than U.S.-born citizens to own small businesses in metro Denver, according to a report released by the New York-based Fiscal Policy Institute.

It???s time that Colorado prohibits health insurance carriers from considering claims history or health status when setting premium rates for small business, says Robin Baker, a senior policy analyst for the Bell Policy Center.

The Bell Policy Center supports committing economic development funds to support micro-enterprise because it is a good investment for Colorado. It helps low- to moderate-income entrepreneurs start businesses, create jobs and add to the economic activity within their communities.

The Bell Policy Center today called on state legislators to take six key steps to bolster the state???s support of individual development account programs.

Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are matched savings accounts that help low-income workers save for a specific goal. This report explains how IDAs work and how Colorado can offer this highyielding tool to more low-income residents.