Report: Ohio ranks high for business-friendly health policy

A new report from the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council ranked Ohio as one of the top states in the nation for health policy that it considers friendly to small business  (Source: “Ohio among tops in nation for health care policies,” Dayton Business Journal, Feb. 4, 2009).

In its Health Care Policy Index (pdf), the organization rates states based on mandated benefits on insurers, “play or pay” mandates on businesses, community rating mandates, guaranteed issue mandates and tax deductibility for health savings accounts.

“Basically, Ohio hasn’t gone as far down the regulatory path as other states,” said Raymond Keating, chief economist for the SBE Council. “Ohio is a good example of a state that has shown restraint on the regulatory front.”

Idaho, Utah, Iowa and Michigan were the only states that rated higher that Ohio and Maine, Washington and Massachusetts were at the bottom of the ranking.