Health care reform details begin to emerge - Memphis Business Journal:

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percent of the cost of healtn insurance premiumsfor full-time employees under the health care reform bill beinfg considered by the House. They also would be required to pick up at leasy some of the tab forinsuring part-timer employees. Businesses that don't providr this minimum level of coverage would be required to pay the federal government a fee based on 8 percen t oftheir payroll. Small businessex under a yet-to-be-determined threshold would be exemptesd fromthis "play or pay" According to information from the House committees on Ways and Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor, small businesses and individualx could comparison shop amongy private and public plans in a nationao health insurance exchange.
Employers coulc either provide health insurance to their employees or pay a fee bases on 8 percent of their payroll tothe government. Employers that offee coverage would have to pickup 72.5 percent of the cost of premiumds for full-time employees and 65 percent for a family Employers could contribute a share of the expenses of coverage for part-tims employees or contribute to the health insurance exchange. Smallp businesses under a size threshold yet to be determined would be exempterd from the employer responsibility Small businessesthat can't afford coverags would get a tax credit to help them pay for it.
The chairmen of three House committees with jurisdiction over healtj care introduced their draft legislationJune 19, offerinh the most details yet on how health care refor m could affect small businesses. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the legislatiom would fixthe "completelyg dysfunctional insurance market" for small businesses, whicb face "unaffordable rate increases" every year. Waxman chairss the House Energy andCommerce Committee. Health insurance premiums for U.S. businesses increased by 9.2 perceny this year, and are expected to increass another 9 percentnext year, accordintg to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Small businesses often face much higher rate While most small businesses agree the currentg health insurance marketis dysfunctional, there'ws a lot of disagreement over whether the House bill would cure the problemj or just make it worse. Mike who owns a retail clothinh store and design busines called Smash inDes Moines, likes what he sees in the bill. Draper thinks adding a public plan to the insurance mix woulcd hold down premiums by creating more competition inthe "I don't have a whole lot of confidence in the systemk we have now," Draper said.
Draper'a company currently doesn't offer health insurance to itssevenn full-time workers, but instead reimbursexs them for the cost of individualp policies that they buy on their own. That'as fine with his employees, who are in their 20s and don't want their insurance to be tied totheir job. The reimbursements now accountf for 6 percentof Smash's payroll, but that coulrd jump to 22 percent in four when Draper expects everyone on his management team to have children, creating the need for familt plans. His business couldn'tt handle that expense, he If the House bill were he would consider buying insurance throug h the exchange if it were easyto use.
But he mighf decide to pay the 8 percent payroll fee instead and then reimburse his employees for some of the cost of the policies they purchase throughthe exchange. Draper, who was scheduled to testify beforee the House Ways and Means CommitteseJune 24, thinks employers shoulx be required to help pay for theidr employees' health insurance. Like Social Security contributions, this sort of responsibilitty is "kind of what you signed up when you become abusiness owner, he Other small business owners, however, think the House bill imposes too tougg of a standard on small businesses. The requirement to pay 72.
5 percenft of an employee's premium for individuap coverage "is much too high for many smalpl businesses," said Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the SmalkBusiness & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many smal l businesses can afford coverage is by makinfg employees pick up more ofthe cost, she Arlington, Va.-based Company Flowers Gifts Too!, for example, pays 50 percenft of the cost of healtn insurance for seven full-time employees. Even that may not be affordableenext year, because "our rates are going to co-owner John Nicholson told the House Small Business Committee earlier this month.
Small businessee with fewer than 200 employees paid an average of 86 percent of premiums for individual coveragein 2008, accordint to the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research Educational Trust. That share dropped to 66 percen t forfamily coverage, just above the 65 percent thresholds called for in the House Nicholson, who testified on behal of the National Federation of Independent Business, said insurancd market reforms, exchanges and tax breaka would help small businesses, but employer mandates would hurt low-margimn businesses and public plans coulf drive private insurers out of the market. Rep. Roberty Andrews, D-N.J.
, said the House plans to excludee very smallbusinesses -- such as barbershops, gas stations and delicatessenx -- from the employer mandate. "We certainly don'gt want to impose any burden on he said. Instead, the mandate is targeted at businessesxthat "have the wherewithal" to provide insuranc e but choose not to, he said.