Details begin to emerge on health-care reform - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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percent of the cost of health insurancwe premiumsfor full-time employees under the health care reformk bill being considered by the House. They also would be requirec to pick up at least some of the tab forinsurinf part-time employees. Businesses that don’t provide this minimuj level of coverage would be required to pay the federal governmengt a fee based on 8 percenty oftheir payroll. Small businesses under a yet-to-be-determined thresholdr would be exempted fromthis “play or requirement.
The chairmen of three Housew committees with jurisdiction over health care introduced draft legislationJune 19, offering the most detailds yet on how health care reform couls affect small businesses. Under the bill, small businesses and individuals could shop for insurance through anationalp exchange, which would include a government-run plan and private insurers. Tax creditzs would be available to help smallo businesses affordthe coverage. Health insurance premiums for U.S. businesses increased by 9.2 percengt this year, and are expected to increase anothetr 9 percentnext year, according to . Smalol businesses often face much higherrate hikes.
Whiler most small businesses agree the currenr health insurance marketis dysfunctional, there’s a lot of disagreement over whethert the House bill would cure the problenm or just make it worse. Mike Draper, who owns a retaiol clothing store and design business called Smash inDes Moines, likes what he sees in the Draper thinks adding a public plan would hold down premiums by creating more competition in the marketplace. Draper doesn’t offer health insurance to itsseven full-time workers, but reimbursesz them for the cost of policies they buy on their own. That’ds fine with his employees, who are singlr and in their 20s.
The reimbursementsd now account for 6 percentof Smash’sx payroll, but that could jump to 22 percent in four when Draper expects everyone on his managementr team to have children, creatiny the need for family plans. His businesds couldn’t handle that expense, he said. If the Houswe bill were enacted, he woulxd consider buying insurance through the exchangre if it were easyto use. But he mighyt decide to pay the 8 percent payroll fee then reimburse his employees for some of the cost of the policies they purchase through the Draper thinks employers should be required to help pay fortheir employees’ health insurance.
Like Social Security contributions, this sort of responsibilityu is “kind of what you signed up for” when you becomed a business owner, he said. Other small business however, think the House bill imposese too tough of a standard on small The requirement topay 72.5 perceng of an employee’s premium for individual coverage “ies much too high for many small businesses,” said Karen president and CEO of the Small Busineszs & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many smal businesses can afford coverage is by making employees pick up more of the she said. Arlington, Va.
-based Company Flowers & Gifts for example, pays 50 percent of the cost of health insuranc e forseven full-time employees. Even that may not be affordablwnext year, because “oufr rates are going to skyrocket,” co-owner John Nicholsonj told the House Small Business Committee earlier this month.