Local businesses have been suffering during this recession, but consumers still want to support their neighborhood shops.

Here are three ways for small retailers to showcase their local roots and boost local economies at the same time.

Read more here…

The following are few quick facts about health insurance costs from the National Coalition on Health Care.

• In just three years, the Medicare and Medicaid programs will account for 50 percent of all national health spending.
• The average employer-sponsored premium for a family of four costs close to $13,400 a year, and the employee foots about 27 percent ($3,618) of this cost.  Employer-sponsored premium will reach nearly $25,000 per year by 2018 ($6,750 for employees).
• Employer health insurance costs overtook profits in 2008, and the gap grows steadily.

The Impact

• A recent study found that 62 percent of all bankruptcies filed in 2007 were linked to medical expenses.  Of those who filed for bankruptcy, nearly 80 percent had health insurance.
• According to another published article, about 1.5 million families lose their homes to foreclosure every year due to unaffordable medical costs.

Read the complete list on the National Coalition on Health Care website.

The biggest loser of the House Healthcare Reform Bill is Small Business.

• Provide government-specified health insurance or pay a penalty of up to 8 percent of payroll
• 30 percent of firms with fewer than 200 employees that now offer insurance would fail the test for family coverage, and about 20 percent would fail for individual coverage

Read the New York Post article here

If you’re using social media to create opportunities online, don’t forget about LinkedIn.

As of this month (October 2009), the site had more than 50 million registered users.

Small Business Trends writer Lisa Barone offers tips on six specific strategies for leveraging LinkedIn to create business opportunities.

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