Health care reform details begin to emerge - San Francisco Business Times:

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percent of the cost of healthn insurance premiumsfor full-times employees under the health care reform bill being considered by the They also would be requiredd to pick up at least some of the tab for insuring part-time employees. Businesses that don't provide this minimum level of coverage wouldc be required to pay the federao government a fee based on 8 percent oftheitr payroll. Small businesses under a yet-to-be-determined threshold would be exempted fromthis "play or pay" How small businesses would fare underr House health care proposal.
Small businesses and individuals could comparison shop amongg private and public plans in a national health insurance exchangeEmployers could either provide health insurance to their employees or pay a fee base d on 8 percent of theitr payroll to the governmentEmployers that offer coverage would have to pickup 72.5 percenrt of the cost of premiums for full-time employees and 65 percent for a familu policyEmployers could contribute a share of the expense of coverage for part-timed employees or contribute to the health insurance exchangeSmall businesseds under a size threshold yet to be determined woulcd be exempted from the employer responsibility requirementSmall businessea that can't afford coverage would get a tax credit to help them pay for it Source: Housr committees on Ways and Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor The chairme n of three House committees with jurisdiction over health care introduced theidr draft legislation June 19, offering the most det ailas yet on how health care reforj could affect small businesses.
Under their small businesses and individuals coulds shop for insurance through a national exchange, which would include a government-run plan as well as private Tax credits would be available to help small businesses afford the Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the legislationj would fixthe "completely dysfunctional insurance market" for small businesses, which face "unaffordablse rate increases" every year. Waxman chairsw the House Energy andCommercr Committee. Health insurance premiums for U.S. businessesz increased by 9.2 percent this year, and are expected to increaswe another 9 percent next accordingto PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Small businesses ofte face much higherrate hikes. Whild most small businesses agree the currenft health insurance marketis dysfunctional, there's a lot of disagreementt over whether the Houswe bill would cure the problem or just make it Mike Draper, who owns a retai clothing store and design business called Smasbh in Des Moines, likes what he sees in the Draper thinks adding a public plan to the insuranc e mix would hold down premiums by creating more competition in the "I don't have a whole lot of confidence in the system we have Draper said.
Draper's company currently doesn't offet health insurance to itssevenh full-time workers, but instead reimburses them for the cost of individualp policies that they buy on their own. That'a fine with his employees, who are single, in their 20s and don' want their insurance to be tied totheir job. The reimbursemente now account for 6 percentgof Smash's payroll, but that coulr jump to 22 percent in four when Draper expects everyonew on his management team to have children, creatingv the need for family plans. His business couldn'tt handle that expense, he said.
If the House bill were enacted, he wouled consider buying insurance through the exchange if it were easyto use. But he mighrt decide to pay the 8 percent payroll fee insteacd and then reimburse his employees for some of the cost of the policiea they purchase throughthe Draper, who was scheduled to testify before the House Ways and Meansw Committee June 24, thinks employers should be requiredx to help pay for their employees' health Like Social Security this sort of responsibility is "kind of what you signe up for" when you become a business owner, he Other small business owners, however, think the Housse bill imposes too tough of a standard on small The requirement to pay 72.
5 percent of an employee'sz premium for individual coverage "is much too high for many smal businesses," said Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Smalkl Business & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many small businesses can afford coverage is by makinbg employees pick up more of the she said. Arlington, Va.-based Compangy Flowers & Gifts Too!, for pays 50 percent of the cost of healtj insurance forseven full-time employees. Even that may not be affordabl enext year, because "our rates are going to skyrocket," co-ownef John Nicholson told the House Smalpl Business Committee earlier this month.