Coleman touts health care proposal

Lawrence Schumacher

St. Cloud Times

Bachman Jewelers still pays the full health care premiums of all its employees, co-owner Jami Bestgen told St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce members and U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., on Friday.

But in recent years, the company has seen double-digit percentage increases in those premiums, had to raise co-pays and deductibles several times, and still faces a 48 percent increase in health insurance costs this year, she said.

“So this year, we dropped family coverage,” Bestgen said. “And some families of our employees can’t get or can’t afford insurance otherwise. We have just been the creators of three families that have no health insurance in Minnesota. And we’re not atypical.”

Coleman listened to concerns from small-business owners about health care costs during his stop in St. Cloud.