A recent statement from the Senate Finance committee outlined how small business health insurance exchanges, tax credits, and grants for workplace wellness as part of health reform would all make quality coverage more available and affordable for small businesses. In this guest post, San Diego small business owner Vince Mudd explains why he -- and the workers he insures -- can't wait. Mudd is CEO of San Diego Office Interiors, a design-build interiors company and the president of International Realty and Development.

Through his involvement in the regional Chamber of Commerce, the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, Campanile Foundation at San Diego State University, and State Compensation Insurance Fund, he has worked to ensure that health related issues -- and their impacts on small business -- are understood by policy makers, business people and the public.

Many politicians and pundits claim that efforts to reform our health system are moving too quickly. Yet for millions of small business owners like me, health reform cannot happen soon enough.

For 15 years, I have not only provided access to health insurance for my 45 employees and their family members, but also paid 100 percent of their premiums. I do this because I believe that when employees do not have to spend time dealing with the "problem" of health insurance, they are more productive. My employees live healthier lives. This benefits them, their families, and ultimately my business and society.

Despite these mutual gains, providing health insurance to my employees is simply unsustainable. Last year my small business premiums skyrocketed 18 percent. I wish this were surprising. But the truth is my premiums have risen significantly every one of the 15 years I have been buying coverage for my workers. Unfortunately, my health-care-related stress does not end there. Every year I pay tens of thousands of dollars in medical riders on other business-related policies, like liability and property insurance, adding even more to my health care costs.  I want to focus on my business, not health care. The status quo makes this impossible.

Unlike other aspects of my business, I am powerless in the face rising health care costs. I have limited options, none satisfactory. I can stop paying my employees' premiums, cut back on the generosity of the benefits I offer, or change insurance companies every year in search of a "better deal." (To be clear, there is no such thing as a "better deal" in the world of small business health insurance.) These choices feel forced and out of balance, especially as we try to grow our economy in these tumultuous times. No business owner should have to choose between a healthy workforce and a successful business. No American should have to choose between a job they love and their health.

Reforms that will relieve me and my colleagues from the stranglehold of an unworkable small business insurance market and rising health care costs are within reach. Proposals in Congress would prevent insurers from charging me more if one of my workers gets sick and would allow me to easily compare and purchase insurance online without limiting myself to the choices offered by my local broker. Most importantly, health reform will provide small business owners with something that is often elusive today -- a choice of quality insurance products.  Increased choice and competition are two reasons I think that an alternative to private insurance -- like a public health insurance option -- could be helpful to small business owners. Given the opportunity, I do not know if I would choose to enroll in either a public health insurance option or co-op. I do know, however, that I would like that choice. Finally, health care reform will begin to slow the rate of system-wide health care cost growth, bringing health care cost increases closer to changes in economy-wide productivity, making health insurance more affordable over time.

Detractors say it is impossible to provide health insurance to every American without costing the system even more than it spends to date. This is not an accurate statement. The fact is that every person paying for health insurance is already, in effect, "paying for" the erratic and dysfunctional care being received by the non-payers. There is so much waste and duplication in the existing system. Reform will address it.

I also believe that as health reform goes into effect, we will see savings in our auto insurance (check your care insurance policy and premium statement, you are probably paying five to seven percent of your premium value for "medical.") We'll also see savings on other insurance products that have a medical component -- boat, RV, home owners, professional liability, general liability and others.

Health reform will bring about improvements that will allow me to continue to provide insurance to my workers and grow my business. Small business owners do not want a free ride. We want to share in the responsibility for a healthy workforce and a prosperous economy. But we need help. Act now. We have waited long enough.