Health reform details emerge - San Francisco Business Times:

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percent of the cost of health insurance premiumsfor full-timwe employees under the health care reformj bill being considered by the House. They also would be requiredx to pick up at least some of the tab forinsuringg part-time employees. Businesses that don’t providew this minimum level of coverage woulxd be required to pay the federal governmentg a fee based on 8 percent of their Small businesses undera yet-to-be-determined thresholfd would be exempted from this “play or requirement.
The chairmen of three House committeesd with jurisdiction over health care introduced draft legislatio nJune 19, offering the most detailds yet on how health care reform couled affect small businesses. Under the bill, small businessesd and individuals could shop for insuranc e through anational exchange, whichg would include a government-run plan and privates insurers. Tax credits would be availablew to help small businesses affordthe coverage. Healtu insurance premiums for U.S. businesses increased by 9.2 percen this year, and are expected to increase another 9 percentnext year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Small businesses often face much higherrrate hikes.
While most small businesses agree the currenty health insurance marketis dysfunctional, there’es a lot of disagreement over whether the Housee bill would cure the problem or just make it Mike Draper, who owns a retaip clothing store and design business called Smash in Des Iowa, likes what he sees in the Draper thinks adding a publivc plan would hold down premiums by creating more competition in the Draper doesn’t offer health insurance to its sevej full-time workers, but reimburses them for the cost of policies they buy on their own. That’s fine with his employees, who are single and in theirt 20s.
The reimbursements now accounyt for 6 percentof Smash’s payroll, but that coul d 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 handl that expense, he said. If the House bill were he would consider buying insurance througy the exchange if it were easyto use. But he mightt decide to pay the 8 perceng payrollfee instead, then reimburse his employeesa for some of the cost of the policies they purchase througyh the exchange. Draper thinks employers should be required to help pay fortheire employees’ health insurance.
Like Social Security this sort of responsibilitytis “kind of what you signes up for” when you become a business owner, he said. Other small business owners, however, think the Housd bill imposes too tough of a standard onsmalk businesses. The requirement to pay 72.5 percent of an employee’s premium for individual coverage “is much too high for many small saysKaren Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Smalll Business & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many smalol businesses can afford coverage is by making employees pick up more of the she said. Arlington, Va.-based Company Flowerse & Gifts Too!
, for example, pays 50 percent of the cost of healthj insurance forseven full-time Even that may not be affordabl e next year, because “oufr rates are going to skyrocket,” co-ownedr John Nicholson told the House Small Businesw Committee earlier this month.