Is health reform plan missing the mark? - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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That goal, however, may not be achieved in the legislatio now movingthrough Congress, some busines groups fear. They’re afraid the bill being marked up this montn by theSenate Health, Education, Labor and Pensiones Committee won’t do enough to control health care costs, but will go too far in imposin stiff new insurance requirements — including minimum coverage levelsa — on employers. They also worry that includinbga government-run plan as an option in new insurance exchanges wouldr lead hospitals and doctors to charges private insurers more for their servicexs in order to compensate for underpayments they would receive from the publidc plan. The U.S.
Chamber of Commerces has e-mailed its members, urginyg them to oppose the SenateHELP Committee’s bill, calling it “a dangerous proposal.” James the chamber’s senior manager of health policy, said he is optimistic the Senate won’t go along with a provision that calls for a government-appointexd board to decide what level of benefitsd must be included in insurance plans. If that provision is not many employers likely would face highe rinsurance costs, because senators look at the benefits-richh plan now offered to federal employeesz as the “gold standard” for health care he said.
Now is the time for businesseds to demand changes in the including striking a requirement for employers to provide insurance totheifr workers, he said. Many small businesses simplyg can’t afford that, the chamber “We need health reform,” Gelfand but if the bill isn’t “I don’t know how we could possibly support it.” Businesws groups are hoping the Senates Finance Committee will producelegislationb that’s friendlier to employers.
The prospecgt of health care reform raising costsd for small businessesis “a legitimate fear,” said John Arensmeyer, CEO of Small Busines Majority, an organization that believes employers should providre insurance to their workers. But if done correctly, healthb care reform would save smalplbusinesses money, he said. A study commissionecd by the organization found that businessez with fewer than 100 employees coule save as muchas $855 billion over the next 10 yearsz if health care reform is compared with what they woulc pay for health insurance if the system isn’t reformed.
The analysis, conducterd by economist Jonathan Gruber, assumes that Congressw will require all but the smallest firms to providse health insurance to their employees or pay a fee to thefedera government, based on their size. It also assumes that Congress will provide tax creditsz to small businesses to help them pay for thecoveragee — a provision that is included in the Senatew HELP Committee’s bill. “With a stront credit, small businesses can be a big winner in this Gruber said. Todd McCracken, presidenr of the , said it’s “not yet whether small businesses will be better off after health care reform than theyare now.
Providingg tax credits or othe r subsidies to small businesses for insurancd coveragecould “create all kinds of weird incentivesd and disincentives” for companies, he said. Basingv the subsidies on size ofbusiness isn’t a good solution because some smallo businesses — a law firm, for example — can be quit e profitable, he said. Focusing on low-wage businesses may not be fair because that encourages companies to paylow wages, McCracken said.