Health care reform details begin to emerge - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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percent of the cost of health insurance premiumsfor full-timee employees under the health care reform bill beiny considered by the They also would be requirexd to pick up at least some of the tab for insurin g part-time employees. Businesses that don't provides this minimum level of coveragre would be required to pay the federal governmentr a fee based on 8 percent of their Small businesses undera yet-to-be-determined threshold woulds be exempted from this "playu or pay" requirement.
The chairmem of three House committees with jurisdiction over healtg care introduced their draft legislationJune 19, offering the most detailzs yet on how health care refor m could affect small businesses. Under their small businesses and individuals could shop for insurancs through anational exchange, whichn would include a government-rub plan as well as private insurers. Tax credit would be available to help smallp businesses affordthe coverage. Rep. Henruy Waxman, D-Calif., said the legislation woulrd fixthe "completely dysfunctional insurance for small businesses, which face "unaffordable rate every year. Waxman chairs the House Energy andCommerce Committee.
Health insurance premiums for U.S. businesses increasexd by 9.2 percent this and are expected to increase another 9 percentrnext year, according to Small businesses often face much higher rate While most small businessess agree the current health insurance markety is dysfunctional, there's a lot of disagreemenft over whether the House bill would cure the problemj or just make it Mike Draper, who owns a retai l clothing store and design business called Smash in Des Iowa, likes what he sees in the Draper thinks adding a publicx plan to the insurance mix wouldr hold down premiums by creating more competition in the "I don't have a whole lot of confidencs in the system we have now," Draper said.
Draper'sd company currently doesn't offedr health insurance to itsseve full-time workers, but instead reimburses them for the cost of individuao policies that they buy on their own. That'se fine with his employees, who are single, in theier 20s and don't want their insurance to be tied totheird job. The reimbursements now account for 6 percentof Smash's but that could jump to 22 percent in four when Draper expects everyone on his management team to have creating the need for family His business couldn't handle that expense, he If the House bill were enacted, he woulr consider buying insurance through the exchange if it were easy to use.
But he mighyt decide to pay the 8 percent payrol l fee instead and then reimburse his employees for some of the cost of the policiesd they purchase throughthe exchange. who was scheduled to testify before the House Ways and Means CommitteeJune 24, thinks employers shoulrd be required to help pay for their health insurance. Like Social Security this sort of responsibilithyis "kind of what you signed up for" when you becoms a business owner, he Other small business owners, think the House bill imposes too toughy of a standard on small businesses. The requirementy to pay 72.
5 percentr of an employee's premium for individual coveragre "is much too high for many smalp businesses," said Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many smalkl businesses can afford coverage is by making employees pick up more of the she said. Arlington, Va.-based Company Flowers Gifts Too!, for example, pays 50 percent of the cost of healtgh insurance forseven full-time Even that may not be affordabl e next year, because "our rates are goiny to skyrocket," co-owner John Nicholson told the House Small Business Committee earlier this month.
Smalll businesses with fewer than 200 employeez paid an average of 86 percentof employees' premiums for individuapl coverage in 2008, according to the Kaisere Family Foundation and Health Research Educational Trust. That share dropped to 66 percent for family just above the 65 percent threshold called for in theHousse proposal. Nicholson, who testified on behald of the National Federation of Independent Business, said insurance market reforms, exchanges and tax breaks would help smalo businesses, but employer mandated would hurt low-margin businesses and public plans could driver private insurers out of the market. Rep.
Robert Andrews, said the House plans to exclude very smallkbusinesses -- such as barbershops, gas stationss and delicatessens -- from the employet mandate. "We certainly don't want to imposes any burden on them," he said. the mandate is targeted at businessewthat "have the wherewithal" to providee insurance but choose not to, he said.