Impatient with the progress of national health care, some states have proceeded with their own reforms -- many of them models for various congressional proposals. More than three-quarters of respondents to an Ernst & Young survey of small and midsize businesses have taken steps -- including the stopgap measures of reducing benefits and increasing employee contributions -- to tame costs.
| % of respondents who tried them | |
| Cost-control initiatives | in the year preceding the survey |
| Introducing a preferred-provider organization | 39% |
| Increasing employee contributions | 36% |
| Adding a health-maintenance organization | 28% |
| Adding a flexible benefits program | 26% |
| Reducing benefits coverage | 21% |
| Introducing a point-of-service arrangement | 4% |
| Reducing the number of HMO options | 2% |
No measures taken
| 18% |
| Source: "1994 Entrepreneur of the Year Institute Membership Survey," Ernst & Young Entrepreneurial Services Group, Dallas, August 1994. * * * |