Health reform details emerge - Denver Business Journal:

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percent of the cost of health insurance premiumwfor full-time employees under the health care reform bill being considerexd by the House. They also woulx be required to pick up at leastt some of the tab forinsurinvg part-time employees. Businesses that don’t providd this minimum level of coverage would be required to pay the federal government a fee based on 8 percenft oftheir payroll. Small businesses under a yet-to-be-determined threshold would be exemptex fromthis “play or pay” requirement.
The chairmenj of three House committees with jurisdiction over health care introduced drafrt legislationJune 19, offering the most details yet on how healtn care reform could affect small Under the bill, small businesses and individuals couldx shop for insurance through a nationakl exchange, which would include a government-rum plan and private insurers. Tax credits would be available to help small businesses afford the Health insurance premiumsfor U.S. businesses increasec by 9.2 percent this year, and are expected to increase anotherr 9 percentnext year, according to Small businesses often face much higher rate hikes.
While most small businesses agree the current health insuranc e marketis dysfunctional, there’s a lot of disagreemeny over whether the House bill would cure the proble or just make it worse. Mike who owns a retail clothing store and desigm business called Smash inDes Moines, Iowa, likesa what he sees in the bill. Draper thinks adding a publi c plan would hold down premiums by creating more competition in the Draper doesn’t offer health insurance to its seven full-timee workers, but reimburses them for the cost of policies they buy on their own. That’es fine with his employees, who are single and in their 20s.
The reimbursementx now account for 6 percentof Smash’as payroll, but that coule 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 said. If the House bill were enacted, he would consider buying insuranced through the exchange if it were easyto use. But he mighgt decide to pay the 8 percent payrololfee instead, then reimburse his employees for some of the cost of the policies they purchase through the exchange. Drapefr thinks employers should be requirer to help pay for their health insurance.
Like Social Security contributions, this sort of responsibilitt is “kind of what you signed up for” when you becomse a business owner, he said. Other smalll business owners, however, think the House bill imposees too tough of a standard onsmall businesses. The requirement to pay 72.5 percent of an employee’s premiumm for individual coverage “is much too high for many small businesses,” says Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the SmalpBusiness & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many smalll businesses can afford coverage is by making employees pick up more of the she said. Arlington, Va.-basesd Company Flowers & Gifts Too!
, for pays 50 percent of the cost of health insurance forseven full-time employees. Even that may not be affordable next because “our rates are going to skyrocket,” co-ownetr John Nicholson told the House Small Business Committee earlier this