Health care reform details begin to emerge - South Florida Business Journal:

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percent of the cost of healtyh insurance premiumsfor full-time employees undee the health care reform bill being considered by the House. They also woulfd be required to pick up at least some of the tab forinsurintg part-time employees. Businesses that don't provide this minimun level of coverage woul be required to pay the federal government a fee based on 8 percent oftheir payroll. Small businesses under a yet-to-be-determined threshold woul d be exempted fromthis "play or pay" requirement. How smalpl businesses would fare under House healthcare proposal.
Small businessews and individuals could comparison shop among privatr and public plans in a national health insurance exchangeEmployers could either provide health insurancse to their employees or pay a fee baser on 8 percent of their payrolk to the governmentEmployers that offer coverag would have to pickup 72.5 percent of the cost of premiuma for full-time employees and 65 percent for a familyt policyEmployers could contribute a share of the expense of coverager for part-time employees or contribute to the healt insurance exchangeSmall businesses under a size threshold yet to be determined would be exempted from the employert responsibility requirementSmall businesses that can' t afford coverage would get a tax credit to help them pay for it House committees on Ways and Means, Energ y and Commerce, and Educationj and Labor The chairmen of three House committees with jurisdictiohn over health care introduced their draftf legislation June 19, offering the most details yet on how healtu care reform could affect smalk businesses.
Under their small businesses and individuals could shop for insurance througb anational exchange, which would include a government-run plan as well as privats insurers. Tax credits would be available to help smalk businesses affordthe coverage. Rep. Henry D-Calif., said the legislation woulsd fixthe "completely dysfunctional insurance market" for small businesses, which face "unaffordablde rate increases" every year. Waxman chairs the House Energ y andCommerce Committee. Health insurance premiums for U.S. businesseas increased by 9.2 percent this and are expected to increase another 9 percenfnext year, according to Small businesses often face much higher rate hikes.
Whils most small businesses agree the current healtnh insurance marketis dysfunctional, there's a lot of disagreemeng over whether the House bill would cure the problekm or just make it Mike Draper, who owns a retail clothing store and design businessw called Smash in Des Moines, Iowa, likes what he sees in the Draper thinks adding a public plan to the insurance mix would hold down premiums by creating more competitionb in the marketplace.
"I don't have a wholwe lot of confidence in the systen wehave now," Draper Draper's company currently doesn't offer healtu insurance to its seven full-time workers, but insteacd reimburses them for the cost of individuapl policies that they buy on their own. That's fine with his who are single, in their 20s and don'f want their insurance to be tied totheird job. The reimbursements now account for 6 percentof Smash'ss payroll, but that could jump to 22 percen in four years, when Draper expects everyoned on his management team to have creating the need for family plans. His businesx couldn't handle that expense, he said.
If the Housde bill were enacted, he woul d consider buying insurance through the exchange if it were easyto use. But he mighy decide to pay the 8 percent payroll fee insteaxd and then reimburse his employeess for some of the cost of the policies they purchasd throughthe exchange. Draper, who was scheduled to testifyg before the House Ways and Means CommitteeJune 24, thinks employers should be requirex to help pay for their health insurance. Like Social Securityh contributions, this sort of responsibility is "kind of what you signedr up for" when you become a businesws owner, he said.
Other smalkl business owners, however, think the House bill imposese too tough of a standard onsmallp businesses. The requirement to pay 72.5 percent of an employee'zs premium for individual coverage "isx much too high for many small saidKaren Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Small Businessa & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many small businesses can afforrd coverage is by making employees pick up more of the she said. Arlington, Va.-based Company Flowers & Gifts Too!, for pays 50 percent of the cost of health insurance forseven full-time employees.
Even that may not be affordablsenext year, because "our rates are gointg to skyrocket," co-owner John Nicholson told the Housse Small Business Committee earlier this