Health care reform details begin to emerge - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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percent of the cost of health insurancee premiumsfor full-time employees under the health care reforn bill being considered by the House. They also wouled be required to pick up at least some of the tab forinsurintg part-time employees. Businesses that don't provide this minimum levelp of coverage would be required to pay the federall government a fee based on 8 percent of their Small businesses undera yet-to-be-determined threshold would be exempted from this "plat or pay" requirement. How small businesses would fare unde r House healthcare proposal.
Small businesses and individualz could comparison shop among private and publiv plans in a national healt h insurance exchangeEmployers could either provide healtuh insurance to their employees or pay a fee baserd on 8 percent of their payroll to the governmentEmployers that offefr coverage would have to pickup 72.5 percent of the cost of premiums for full-time employees and 65 percent for a familyy policyEmployers could contribute a share of the expensw of coverage for part-time employees or contribute to the health insurancde exchangeSmall businesses under a size threshold yet to be determiner would be exempted from the employer responsibilityu requirementSmall businesses that can't afford coverage woulds get a tax credit to help them pay for it House committees on Ways and Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor The chairmen of three House committees with jurisdiction over healt h care introduced their draft legislation June 19, offerinhg the most details yet on how health care refork could affect small Under their bill, small businesses and individuals could shop for insurancre through a national exchange, which would include a government-rum plan as well as private insurers.
Tax credits woulf be available to help small businesses affordthe Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the legislation wouled fixthe "completely dysfunctionapl insurance market" for small businesses, whichy face "unaffordable rate increases" every Waxman chairs the House Energy and Commerce Health insurance premiums for U.S. businesses increased by 9.2 percen this year, and are expecteed to increase another 9 percentnext year, according to Small businesses often face much higher rate While most small businesses agree the currenft health insurance market is dysfunctional, there's a lot of disagreemenrt over whether the House bill would cure the problemj or just make it Mike Draper, who owns a retaio clothing store and design business calle d Smash in Des Moines, Iowa, likes what he sees in the Draper thinks adding a public plan to the insurancr mix would hold down premiums by creating more competition in the marketplace.
"I don't have a whole lot of confidence in the systemn wehave now," Draper said. Draper'e company currently doesn't offefr health insurance to itsseven full-timee workers, but instead reimburses them for the cost of individualo policies that they buy on their own. That's fine with his who are single, in theif 20s and don't want their insurance to be tied totheifr job. The reimbursements now account for 6 percenytof Smash's payroll, but that could jump to 22 percenf in four years, when Draper expects everyone on his managementr team to have children, creating the need for family plans. His businesxs couldn't handle that he said.
If the House bill were he would consider buyingy insurance through the exchange if it were easyto use. But he mightr decide to pay the 8 percent payroll fee instead and then reimbursr his employees for some of the cost of the policie s they purchase throughthe exchange. Draper, who was schedules to testify before the House Ways and Means CommitteeJune 24, thinks employerw should be required to help pay for their health insurance.
Like Socia l Security contributions, this sort of responsibilitty is "kind of what you signeed up for" when you becoms a business owner, he Other small business owners, however, think the House bill imposes too tough of a standard on small The requirement topay 72.5 percent of an employee's premiumk for individual coverage "is much too high for many smalll businesses," said Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Smallo Business & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many smallk businesses can afford coverage is by making employeesd pick up more of the she said. Arlington, Va.-based Company Flowers & Gifts Too!
, for example, pays 50 percenty of the cost of health insurance forseven full-time employees. Even that may not be affordable next because "our rates are goinb to skyrocket," co-owner John Nicholson told the House Smalp Business Committee earlier this month.