Bill, Obama tax credits and beer

I am Bill Milliken, a 44 year old small business owner who lives in Portland, Maine. I co-own two businesses with my business partner Andrew Braceras - Maine Beer & Beverage Co. and Market House Coffee. Both businesses are retail shops located in the Public Market House on Monument Square in Portland, Maine. Andrew and I employ 6-8 full time and part time employees overall between our two businesses. Our ultimate goal is to provide all of our full time employees with health insurance.

I grew up in Augusta, Maine, graduating as senior class president from Cony High School. After a four year stint in the United States Army, I received my bachelors degree in Political Science at the University of Southern Maine and a Juris Doctor from the University of Maine School of Law. In the almost 20 years since leaving school, I have had a variety of jobs from criminal defense attorney and non-profit executive director to house painter and pizza delivery driver, and now shop owner. It is being a shop owner that I have found my place, selling the product I love, Maine beer, and now selling coffee, another beverage I love.

As progressive-minded business owners, Andrew and I have always endeavored to provide health insurance to our employees, even though they only hold retail clerk positions. We think that health insurance is a reward for good work and a morale booster. But there's a humanitarian side as well. The type of worker I employ, typically a 20 or 30 something, has left home and does not have health insurance. Their lives could be financially devastated by just one illness or health emergency. These are the people you want in your insurance risk pool, the folks known as 'the young invincibles'. They are generally healthy and counteract all of the older baby boomers who are retiring and having health problems. So we see this as socially beneficial as well.

Andrew and I did provide insurance to three full-time employees when our beer store was located in the former Portland Public Market. But four years ago, the market closed and our store was forced to move. Our sales were cut in half while our expenses stayed generally the same. We had to run credit cards that first winter in our new location just to make payroll, and that is even with cutting back our employees hours. We certainly couldn't afford their health insurance anymore. In the years since, our store has grown to the point where we can start thinking about providing health insurance again. Of the three potential positions who could qualify, we put one on the plan this January. These tax credits in the recent health care law fall right in with what we were trying to do anyway. The business will receive a credit for the employee we have already put on, which is helpful in itself. I'm a small business owner - any break helps. But now we are considering accelerating our plans to get at least one of the two remaining on the plan because of the tax credit.

There are other factors involved, notably the economy and the health of the business. We have had a rough road this past year or so with the recession and all, but I think we are pulling out of it. People are still going to drink beer and coffee. But also this is for the long term. My employees are going to be healthier, it is going to save on the health care system down the road, and that is good for all of us. As Ben Franklin said, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." That applies as well today as it did back then when he coined the phrase. Hopefully, with our plans, it also applies to the employees of Maine Beer & Beverage Co. and Market House Coffee.