Politics, healthcare, Election

Election Results Will Boost Employee Productivity, But Healthcare Costs May Climb

Bill Baxter 11/5/08

You are now going to see productivity improve at high tech companies because people will no longer have an excuse to sit around and complain about Bush. High tech employees generally seem to lean towards President-Elect Obama so morale is likely to increase as well, increasing productivity.

More seriously, in Washington State, we’re going to see a number of issues emerging after this election.

First, since Mike Kreidler was reelected as Washington State Insurance Commissioner, we’ll probably see continuing pressure to eliminate all association healthcare plans, which is what most startups offer as a benefit to employees. If this is the case, the overall cost of healthcare to high tech employers will probably increase because health incident rates are lower for high tech employers. Plans like the one offered by the Washington Technology Industry Association allow it to pool that lower risk.

Second, given the state revenue shortfall and a marginally increased anti-business mix of legislators, the R&D tax credit will come under pressure, even though it is good for the tech community, and our region.

Bill Baxter is chief technology officer and VP of engineering at Cozi Group Inc. (www.cozi.com).