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BusinessWeek's Joshua Kendall has an article that helps explain why small business owners are paying a lot of attention to the push for health care reform. Kendall writes about some businesses' experience of having their health insurance costs skyrocket after an employee becomes "gravely ill." A practice that one former CIGNA employee calls "purging": Purging: It's an ugly word, and it describes an ugly practice. But Wendell Potter, formerly the director of media relations for CIGNA ( CI ), says that's exactly what health-insurance companies do when an employee at a small business is unexpectedly hit with a sudden, and expensive, illness: The insurance company "purges" the small company from their rolls. In June testimony before U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, Potter said health-insurance companies "dump small businesses whose employees' medical claims exceed what insurance underwriters expected. All it takes is one illness or accident among employees at a small business to prompt an insurance company to hike the next year's premiums so high that the employer has to cut benefits, shop for another carrier, or stop offering coverage altogether—leaving workers uninsured. The practice is known in the industry as purging." Read Small Biz Purging: When Companies Lose Health Care here . Meanwhile, the Obama Administration continues put together statements and reports aimed at showing its support of small business. And nobody has been pushing the case of late more than Christina Romer , chair of the Council of Economic Advisers . Here she is following up last week's QandA on what's in the health care reform proposals for small business with another argument for why small businesses need health care reform as much, or even more than, any group:

As members of Congress head home for August recess, you can be sure they will be talking almost non-stop with constitutents about health care reform efforts. And they are likely to run into some small business owners who are not fond of House Resolution 3200--or " America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 ." The National Federation of Independent Businesses --a powerful advocacy group that has not exactly been fond of the Obama Administration's economic policies thus far--is pushing back against the legislation, and lists these ten reasons it is bad for small businesses: 1. An Employer Mandate 2. Payroll Tax Penalty 3. Pay-or-Play, Pay-and-Pay and Offer-and-Pay 4. A Mandated Minimum Plan with a Big Price Tag 5. An Exchange that Limits Access to All Small Businesses 6. An All Powerful Insurance Czar 7. The Government-Run Public Option 8. The Surtax: A Tax on Job Creation 9. Jeopardizes Options That Small Employers Have Today 10. An Employer Tax Credit with Limited Value Click here to read explanations for each item. Still, the White House continues to stress that the bill is a new positive for small businesses. the Council of Economic Advisers has released a study: The Economic Effects of Health Care Reform on Small Businesses and their Employees . CEA Chair Christina Romer writes that under the current system, the small businesses that do offer health care do so at a much greater cost to the business and the employees: Put simply, the current U.S. health care system imposes a heavy tax on small businesses and their employees. Those small firms that do offer coverage have to pay a higher cost than their larger competitors. To the degree that higher costs are passed on to workers, small firms pay lower take-home wages to their employees. Those small firms that do not offer coverage have employees who do not receive the substantial tax benefits of employer-provided health insurance that their counterparts at large firms enjoy. These employees are more likely to purchase policies in the individual market, where they pay much higher rates. In either case, small firms are likely to be at a competitive disadvantage in the market for hiring workers. Small firms are likely to have a more difficult time than larger firms recruiting potential employees who do not have health insurance from another source. Even if a small firm provides the best fit for a worker’s skills and interests, the individual may choose not to work there given the implicit tax. Read the full report here .