Health care reform details begin to emerge - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

bertayfybuqutyp.blogspot.com
percent of the cost of healtbh insurance premiumsfor full-time employees unde r the health care reform bill beint considered by the House. They also woulfd be required to pick up at least some of the tab forinsuringv part-time employees. Businesses that don't provide this minimum level of coverage would be requiredf to pay the federal government a fee based on 8 percent oftheir payroll. Small businesses under a yet-to-be-determined threshold would be exempted fromthis "plag or pay" requirement. How smalol businesses would fare under House healtycare proposal.
Small businesses and individualas could comparison shop among private and public plans in a nationalp health insurance exchangeEmployers could either provide health insurancr to their employees or pay a fee basede on 8 percent of their payroll to the governmentEmployers that offe coverage would have to pickup 72.5 percent of the cost of premiumse for full-time employees and 65 percent for a family policyEmployerws could contribute a share of the expensed of coverage for part-time employees or contribute to the health insurancd exchangeSmall businesses under a size threshold yet to be determinedx would be exempted from the employet responsibility requirementSmall businesses that can'gt afford coverage would get a tax credit to help them pay for it House committees on Ways and Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labotr The chairmen of threre House committees with jurisdiction over health care introduced their drafgt legislation June 19, offering the most detail yet on how health care reform could affect smalk businesses.
Under their bill, small businesses and individual s could shop for insurance through a national exchange, which would include a government-runb plan as well as private insurers. Tax credite would be available to help small businesses affordthe Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the legislatiob would fixthe "completely dysfunctional insurance market" for small businesses, which face "unaffordabl rate increases" every year. Waxman chairs the Houswe Energy andCommerce Committee. Health insuranc e premiums for U.S. businesses increased by 9.2 percent this and are expected to increase anotherf 9 percentnext year, accordinfg to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Small businesses often face much higherrate hikes. While most smalo businesses agree the current health insurance marketis dysfunctional, there'x a lot of disagreement over whether the House bill woulds cure the problem or just make it worse. Mike who owns a retail clothing store and designm business called Smash inDes Moines, likes what he sees in the Draper thinks adding a public plan to the insurance mix would hold down premiumsa by creating more competition in the marketplace. "Iu don't have a wholse lot of confidence in the systemm wehave now," Draper said.
Draper'd company currently doesn't offer healty insurance to itsseven full-timew workers, but instead reimburses them for the cost of individuap policies that they buy on their own. That'xs fine with his employees, who are in their 20s and don't want theit insurance to be tied totheir job. The reimbursements now accountf for 6 percentof Smash'sx payroll, but that could jump to 22 percent in four when Draper expects everyone on his management team to have creating the need for family plans. His business couldn't handle that expense, he said. If the Housed bill were enacted, he would consider buying insurancw through the exchange if it were easyto use.
But he mightf decide to pay the 8 percent payroll fee insteade and then reimburse his employeees for some of the cost of the policies they purchase throughthe exchange. Draper, who was schedulexd to testify before the Houswe Ways and Means CommitteeJune 24, thinks employers should be required to help pay for their employees' health insurance. Like Social Security contributions, this sort of responsibility is "kind of what you signed up for" when you becomse a business owner, he said. Otheer small business owners, however, think the Housse bill imposes too tough of a standard onsmallk businesses. The requirement to pay 72.
5 percent of an employee'sz premium for individual coverage "is much too high for many smallp businesses," said Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many small businesses can afford coverage is by makinv employees pick up more ofthe cost, she Arlington, Va.-based Company Flowers & Gifts Too!, for pays 50 percent of the cost of health insurancw for seven full-time Even that may not be affordable next year, becausd "our rates are going to skyrocket," co-owneer John Nicholson told the House Smal Business Committee earlier this month.