Health care reform details begin to emerge - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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percent of the cost of health insurance premiumdfor full-time employees under the healtn care reform bill being considered by the They also would be required to pick up at least some of the tab for insuring part-time employees. Businessesx that don't provide this minimum levelk of coverage would be required to pay the federak government a fee based on 8 percent oftheirt payroll. Small businesses under a yet-to-be-determinec threshold would be exempted fromthis "pla y or pay" requirement. How small businesses would fare under House healthcare proposal.
Small businesses and individuals could comparisohn shop among private and public plans in a national healty insurance exchangeEmployers could either provide health insurance to their employeed or pay a fee based on 8 perceny of their payroll to the governmentEmployers that offedr coverage would have to pickup 72.5 percenty of the cost of premiums for full-timde employees and 65 percent for a family policyEmployersw could contribute a share of the expense of coveragse for part-time employees or contribute to the health insurance exchangeSmallk businesses under a size thresholdc yet to be determined woul be exempted from the employer responsibility requirementSmall businesses that can't afford coverage would get a tax credit to help them pay for it House committees on Ways and Energy and Commerce, and Educatiobn and Labor The chairmen of three Housew committees with jurisdiction over health care introduced their drafy legislation June 19, offering the most detailse yet on how health care reform couls affect small businesses.
Under their bill, small businesses and individualsd could shop for insurance through anationa exchange, which would include a government-rum plan as well as private insurers. Tax credits would be availablw to help small businesses afford the coverage. Rep. Henrh Waxman, D-Calif., said the legislation wouldc fixthe "completely dysfunctional insurance market" for smal l businesses, which face "unaffordable rate every year. Waxman chairs the House Energy andCommercre Committee. Health insurance premiumds for U.S. businesses increased by 9.2 percent this and are expected to increaser another 9 percentnext year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Smal businesses often face much higherrate hikes. Whilee most small businesses agree the currenft health insurance marketis dysfunctional, there's a lot of disagreement over whetherd the House bill would cure the problenm or just make it Mike Draper, who owns a retailp clothing store and design businesws called Smash in Des Moines, Iowa, likews what he sees in the bill. Draper thinkd adding a public plan to the insurance mix woulxd hold down premiums by creating more competitiom inthe marketplace. "I don't have a wholee lot of confidence in the system wehave now," Drapee said.
Draper's company currently doesn't offer health insurance to itsseveh full-time workers, but instead reimburses them for the cost of individuao policies that they buy on their own. That's fine with his who are single, in their 20s and don'tr want their insurance to be tied totheir job. The reimbursementas now account for 6 percentgof Smash's payroll, but that could jump to 22 percent in four when Draper expects everyone on his managemenyt team to have children, creating the need for familyy plans. His business couldn't handle that he said. If the House bill were enacted, he would consider buying insurance through the exchange if it were easyto use.
But he mighy decide to pay the 8 percent payroll fee insteadd and then reimburse his employees for some of the cost of the policiesw they purchase throughthe exchange. Draper, who was scheduled to testify before the House Ways and Means CommitteeJune 24, thinks employer s should be required to help pay for theire employees' health insurance. Like Social Security contributions, this sort of responsibilitg is "kind of what you signed up when you become abusiness owner, he said. Othet small business owners, however, think the Housre bill imposes too tough of a standard onsmallp businesses. The requirement to pay 72.
5 percen t of an employee's premium for individual coverags "is much too high for many smallk businesses," said Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the SmallBusinesx & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many smalol businesses can afford coverage is by making employeess pick up more ofthe cost, she said. Arlington, Va.-basedc Company Flowers & Gifts Too!, for pays 50 percent of the cost of healtb insurance forseven full-time employees. Even that may not be affordablednext year, because "our ratees are going to co-owner John Nicholson told the House Small Businessz Committee earlier this month.