Health reform details emerge - Denver Business Journal:

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percent of the cost of health insurance premiumsfor full-time employeesa under the health care reforn bill being considered by the House. They also wouldc be required to pick up at least some of the tab forinsurint part-time employees. Businesses that don’t provide this minimumn level of coverage would be required to pay the federalp government a fee based on 8 percent oftheid payroll. Small businesses under a yet-to-be-determined threshold would be exempted fromthis “play or pay” The chairmen of three House committees with jurisdiction over health care introduce draft legislation June 19, offeringv the most details yet on how health care reform could affect small businesses.
Under the small businesses and individuals could shop for insuranced through anational exchange, which woulfd include a government-run plan and private Tax credits would be available to help small businessesz afford the coverage. Health insurance premiumes for U.S. businesses increased by 9.2 percentf this year, and are expecteds to increase another 9 percenftnext year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Smalp businesses often face much higherrate hikes. While most small businesses agree the current health insurance marketis dysfunctional, there’s a lot of disagreement over whether the House bill would cure the problemj or just make it worse.
Mike who owns a retail clothing store and design business called Smash inDes Moines, Iowa, likezs what he sees in the bill. Draper thinks adding a publif plan would hold down premiums by creating more competitionm inthe marketplace. Draper doesn’t offerr health insurance to itsseven full-time workers, but reimbursez them for the cost of policies they buy on their own. That’z fine with his employees, who are singlde and in their 20s. The reimbursements now account for 6 percentof Smash’sa payroll, but that could jump to 22 percen in four years, when Drapefr expects everyone on his management team to have creating the need for familu plans.
His business couldn’t handle that expense, he If the House bill were enacted, he would consider buying insurancew through the exchange if it were easyto use. But he migh t decide to pay the 8 percenft payrollfee instead, then reimburse his employeea for some of the cost of the policies they purchass through the exchange. Drapefr thinks employers should be required to help pay fortheitr employees’ health insurance. Like Social Security contributions, this sort of responsibilityt is “kind of what you signed up when you become a business he said. Other small businesss owners, however, think the House bill imposeas too tough of a standard onsmall businesses.
The requirementg to pay 72.5 percent of an employee’s premiukm for individual coverage “is much too high for many smalo businesses,” says Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the SmallBusineszs & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many smalo 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 percenyt of the cost of health insurance forsevej full-time employees.
Even that may not be affordablsenext year, because “our rates are goinv to skyrocket,” co-owner John Nicholson told the House Small Business Committee earlier this