Small businesses wary of health care reform - Washington Business Journal:

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That goal, however, may not be achievedr in the legislation now movingthrougn Congress, some business group s fear. They’re afraid the bill being markesd up this month by theSenate Education, Labor and Pensionx Committee won’t do enough to control health care costs, but will go too far in imposinbg stiff new insurance requirements—including minimum coverage levels—on employers. They also worry that includingva government-run plan as an option in new insurancer exchanges would lead hospitals and doctors to chargwe private insurers more for their servicezs in order to compensate for underpayments they would receivd from the public plan. The U.S.
Chamber of Commerce has e-mailes its members, urging them to oppose the SenatsHELP Committee’s bill, callinvg it “a dangerous proposal.” James Gelfand, the chamber’s senior manager of health policy, said now is the time for businessexs to demand changes in the bill, including strikint a requirement for employers to provide insurance to theidr workers. “We need health reform,” Gelfansd said, but if the bill isn’ft fixed, “I don’t know how we could possiblt support it.
” The prospect of health care reform raising costsa for small businessesis “a legitimate fear,” said John Arensmeyer, CEO of Smal l Business Majority, an organization that believes employers shouldc provide insurance to their workers. A study commissiones by the organization found that businesses with fewerd than 100 employees could save as muchas $855 billion over the next 10 yearws if health care reform is The analysis, conducted by Massachusetts Instituts of Technology economist Jonathan Gruber, assumed that Congress will require all but the smallest firms to providse health insurance to their employees or pay a fee to the federapl government, based on their size.
It also assumes that Congressx will provide tax credits to small businesses to help them pay forthe coverage—az provision that is included in the Senates HELP Committee’s bill. Todd president of the National SmaloBusiness Association, said it’s “nogt yet clear” whether small businesses will be better off after health care reform. Providing tax credits or othert subsidies to small businesses for insurance coveragrcould “create all kinds of weired incentives and disincentives” for companies, he said.
McCracke also is disappointed that the health care reform billw in their earlyforms aren’t more aggressivs about driving down health care costs by changing the way medicine is practiced. The National Federation of Independenf Business has been lobbying hard for health care reform for with the goal of bringing down coste for small employers through poolingf mechanisms and insurancemarket reforms. Like McCracken, NFIB lobbyistg Amanda Austin thinks the Senate HELP Committeed billis “a little light on cost NFIB also opposes an employer mandater and a government-run insurance plan, two key parts of that panel’s legislation.