Health care reform details begin to emerge - Business First of Buffalo:

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percent of the cost of health insurance premium sfor full-time employees under the healt h care reform bill being considered by the House. They also wouled be required to pick up at least some of the tab forinsuringb part-time employees. Businesses that don'y provide this minimum level of coverage wouled be required to pay the federal governmentf a fee based on 8 percent oftheir payroll. Small businesses under a yet-to-be-determined threshold would be exempteds fromthis "play or requirement. How small businesses would fare under House healthcare proposal.
Small businesses and individuals coulsd comparison shop among private and public plans in a nationalo health insurance exchangeEmployers could either provid e health insurance to their employees or pay a fee basec on 8 percent of their payroll to the governmentEmployersd that offer coverage would have to pickup 72.5 percenr of the cost of premiumsw for full-time employees and 65 percent for a familuy policyEmployers could contribute a share of the expensw of coverage for part-timw employees or contribute to the health insuranc exchangeSmall businesses under a size threshold yet to be determines would be exempted from the employet responsibility requirementSmall businesses that can'gt afford coverage would get a tax credi to help them pay for it Source: Housed committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Educatiom and Labor The chairmen of three House committees with jurisdiction over healtnh care introduced their draft legislation June 19, offerinv the most det ails yet on how healtnh care reform could affect small businesses.
Under theire bill, small businesses and individualws could shop for insurance through anational exchange, whic would include a government-run plan as well as private insurers. Tax credits wouldf be available to help small businessess affordthe coverage. Rep. Henrhy Waxman, D-Calif., said the legislation would fixthe "completely dysfunctionao insurance market" for small businesses, which face "unaffordable rate every year. Waxman chairs the House Energy andCommerce Committee. Health insurance premiums for U.S. businessez increased by 9.2 percent this year, and are expectex to increase another 9 percentnext year, accordintg to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Small businesses oftenb face much higherrate hikes. While most small businesses agree the current health insurancr marketis dysfunctional, there's a lot of disagreement over whether the House bill wouldx cure the problem or just make it Mike Draper, who owns a retailk clothing store and design business called Smash in Des Iowa, likes what he sees in the Draper thinks adding a public plan to the insurance mix wouls hold down premiums by creatinhg more competition in the marketplace. "I don'tr have a whole lot of confidence in the systek wehave now," Draper said.
Draper's company currently doesn't offer health insurance to itsseven full-timw workers, but instead reimburses them for the cost of individualk policies that they buy on their own. That'se fine with his who are single, in their 20s and don't want theirf insurance to be tied totheir job. The reimbursements now account for 6 percenyof Smash's payroll, but that could jump to 22 percenrt in four years, when Draperr expects everyone on his management team to have creating the need for family plans. His busineses couldn't handle that expense, he If the House bill were enacted, he would considerf buying insurance through the exchange if it were easyto use.
But he mightg decide to pay the 8 percent payroll fee insteac and then reimburse his employees for some of the cost of the policiesa they purchase throughthe exchange. Draper, who was scheduledc to testify before the House Ways and Means CommittedeJune 24, thinks employers should be requirec to help pay for theird employees' health insurance. Like Social Security contributions, this sort of responsibilityg is "kind of what you signef up for" when you become a businesw owner, he said. Other small business owners, think the House bill imposes too tough of a standardf onsmall businesses. The requirement to pay 72.
5 percenft of an employee's premium for individual coverage "is much too high for many small saidKaren Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Smallk Business & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many small businessea can afford coverage is by making employeesd pick up more ofthe cost, she Arlington, Va.-based Company Flowers & Gifts Too!, for pays 50 percent of the cost of healtb insurance for seven full-time Even that may not be affordable next because "our rates are going to skyrocket," co-ownerr John Nicholson told the Houses Small Business Committee earlier this