Health reform details emerge – Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

percent of the cost of health insurancer premiumsfor full-time employees under the health care reforjm bill being considered by the House. They also would be required to pick up at least some of the tab forinsuring part-timwe employees. Businesses that don’t provide this minimu level of coverage would be requirer to pay the federal governmengt a fee based on 8 percent of their Small businesses undera yet-to-be-determined threshold would be exemptexd from this “play or pay” requirement.
The chairmenn of three House committees with jurisdiction over healthg care introduced draft legislationJune 19, offering the most detailsx yet on how health care reform couldd affect small businesses. Under the bill, smal businesses and individuals coulr shop for insurance through a national which would includea government-run plan and private Tax credits would be available to help smalp businesses afford the coverage. Healtnh insurance premiums for U.S. businesses increaseds by 9.2 percent this and are expected to increase another 9 percent next accordingto PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Small businessesa often face much higher rate While most small businesses agree the currenr health insurance marketis there’s a lot of disagreement over whether the Housr bill would cure the problem or just make it Mike Draper, who owns a retail clothinh store and design businese called Smash in Des Moines, likes what he sees in the bill. Draper thinkas adding a public plan would hold down premiums by creatingf more competition in the Draper doesn’t offer health insurance to its seven full-time workers, but reimburses them for the cost of policiesd they buy on their own. That’s fine with his who are single and intheir 20s.
The reimbursements now accouny 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 familyy plans. His business couldn’t handle that he said. If the Houss bill were enacted, he would considef buying insurance through the exchange if it were easyto use. But he mightg decide to pay the 8 percenft payrollfee instead, then reimburse his employeee for some of the cost of the policiese they purchase through the exchange. Draper thinks employersx should be required to help pay for their health insurance.
Like Social Security this sort of responsibilityis “kind of what you signex up for” when you become a business he said. Other small businesxs owners, however, think the House bill imposes too tough of a standarc onsmall businesses. The requirement to pay 72.5 percent of an employee’sx premium for individual coveragew “is much too high for many smalpl businesses,” says Karen Kerrigan, presideng and CEO of the SmalplBusiness & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many small businesses can afford coverage is by making employeesd pick up more ofthe cost, she said. Arlington, Va.-baseed Company Flowers & Gifts Too!
, for pays 50 percent of the cost of health insuranc e forseven full-time employees. Even that may not be affordablwenext year, because “our ratess are going to skyrocket,” co-owner John Nicholsonn told the House Small Business Committee earlier this month.
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