Vt. women-run businesses say health care costs a major barrier

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont’s women-owned businesses say the number one hindrance to their growth is the cost of health care. Reporter Laura Ullman asked entrepreneurs about what makes the state’s health system a challenging environment to run a business.

Clients at Brilliant Massage and Skin are told to relax, but owner Jolita “Brilliant” Sakmanaite is doing anything but that.

“We can’t afford $10,000, $20,000 a year per employee to pay for health care. We would go out of business,” Sakmanaite said.

Sakanaite opened her first location in 2017 in downtown Burlington. The demand for massages was so high she opened a second location in South Burlington. She wants to hire more people but says the massage industry’s overhead is too small to offer competitive benefits to applicants. “Sometimes these employees end up going to bigger facilities and other careers because of that,” she said

At Hula in Burlington, tech entrepreneur Molly Yanus is having similar issues. “I don’t want my employees to feel like they are not getting what their family deserves because they’re working for a small business,” she said,

Yanus says health care is a human right and wants to offer her employees benefits they can be proud of. She says not only are insurance plans for small businesses extremely expensive and often impractical but some of those smaller plans aren’t even offered in Vermont. “Being a small state, we kind of get left out of some of these opportunities,” she said.

Gwen Hart often hears these issues. As the director of the Vermont Women’s Business Center, she gathers data and testimony from women entrepreneurs across the state. “The top reason women are not taking that next growth step in their business — number one: health care — stable, affordable health care,” she said.

Back at Brilliant Massage and Skin, Sakmanaite is offering franchise opportunities to other women in the Vermont community. If health care costs are holding her back from expanding, she still wants to give other women the opportunity to try. “Women are a little disadvantaged when it comes to being a boss and running a business, but it’s empowering,” she said.

Everyone we spoke to says that one possible solution is that small businesses can come together in a professional employer organization plan where they can find affordable health care plans together.

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