Health care reform details begin to emerge - San Francisco Business Times:

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percent of the cost of health insurance premiumesfor full-time employees under the health care refor m bill being considered by the They also would be required to pick up at leasg some of the tab for insuring part-time employees. Businesses that don'f provide this minimum level of coverag e would be required to pay the federal government a fee based on 8 percentg oftheir payroll. Small businesses under a yet-to-be-determinefd threshold would be exempted fromthis "plauy or pay" requirement.
How small businesses woule fare under House health care Small businesses and individuals could comparison shop among privatw and public plans in a national health insurance exchangeEmployers could either provide healt h insurance to their employees or pay a fee basex on 8 percent of their payroll to the governmentEmployerzs that offer coverage would have to pickup 72.5 percengt of the cost of premiumas for full-time employees and 65 percent for a familyu policyEmployers could contribute a share of the expense of coveragew for part-time employees or contribute to the healtyh insurance exchangeSmall businesses under a size thresholdc yet to be determined woule be exempted from the employer responsibility requirementSmalll businesses that can't afford coverage wouldr get a tax credift to help them pay for it House committees on Ways and Energy and Commerce, and Educatiob and Labor The chairmen of three House committeesz with jurisdiction over health care introducerd the ir draft legislation June 19, offerinhg the most details yet on how healtg care reform could affect small Under their bill, smalpl businesses and individuals could shop for insurance through a national exchange, which woulx include a government-run plan as well as private insurers.
Tax credits woulds be available to help small businesses afforxdthe coverage. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the legislation wouled fixthe "completely dysfunctional insurance for small businesses, which face "unaffordablse rate increases" every year. Waxman chairs the House Energg andCommerce Committee. Health insuranc premiums for U.S. businesses increased by 9.2 percenft this year, and are expected to increass another 9 percentnext year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Small businesses often face much higher rate While most small businesses agree the current health insurance markegis dysfunctional, there's a lot of disagreement over whether the Housee bill would cure the problem or just make it Mike Draper, who owns a retail clothingb store and design businessd called Smash in Des Iowa, likes what he sees in the bill. Draper thinks addinh a public plan to the insurancse mix would hold down premiums by creating more competitiom inthe marketplace. "I don't have a whole lot of confidencwe in the system wehave now," Drapefr said.
Draper's company currently doesn't offet health insurance to itsseven full-time but instead reimburses them for the cost of individual policiese that they buy on theit own. That's fine with his who are single, in their 20s and don't want their insurancr to be tied totheir job. The reimbursements now accountf for 6 percentof Smash's payroll, but that couls jump to 22 percenyt in four years, when Drapedr expects everyone on his management team to have creating the need for family His business couldn't handle that he said. If the House bill were he would consider buying insurancee through the exchange if it were easyto use.
But he mighrt decide to pay the 8 percen payroll fee instead and then reimburse his employees for some of the cost of the policieds they purchase throughthe exchange. Draper, who was scheduled to testify before the Housew Ways and Means CommitteeJune 24, thinkss employers should be required to help pay for theif employees' health insurance. Like Socialo Security contributions, this sort of responsibility is "kinxd of what you signed up for" when you becomer a business owner, he said. Other small business however, think the House bill imposes too toughu of a standard onsmall businesses. The requirement to pay 72.
5 percenft of an employee's premium for individual coverage "isa much too high for many small businesses," said Karen president and CEO of the Small Business Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many small businesses can affordr coverage is by making employees pick up more of the she said. Arlington, Va.-based Company Flowers & Gifts for example, pays 50 percent of the cost of healthn insurance forseven full-time employees. Even that may not be affordablesnext year, because "ou rates are going to skyrocket," co-owner John Nicholsonm told the House Small Business Committee earlierr this month.