Details begin to emerge on health-care reform - South Florida Business Journal:

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percent of the cost of healtb insurance premiumsfor full-time employees under the health care reform bill being considere d by the House. They also would be requireds to pick up at least some of the tab forinsuring part-tim e employees. Businesses that don’t provide this minimujm level of coverage would be requiree to pay the federal governmeng a fee based on 8 percentt oftheir payroll. Small businesses under a yet-to-be-determined threshold wouldr be exempted fromthis “play or pay” requirement.
The chairmenb of three House committees with jurisdiction over healtu care introduced draft legislationJune 19, offeringb the most details yet on how health care reform coulde affect small businesses. Under the bill, smal l businesses and individuals could shop for insurancer through anational exchange, which would include a government-rum plan and private insurers. Tax credites would be available to help small businesses afford the Health insurance premiumsfor U.S. businesses increasef by 9.2 percent this year, and are expecter to increase another 9 percentnext year, according to . Smalpl businesses often face much higherrate hikes.
While most small businessese agree the current health insurance marketis dysfunctional, there’z a lot of disagreemengt over whether the House bill woul cure the problem or just make it Mike Draper, who owns a retail clothing store and design business called Smas in Des Moines, Iowa, likes what he sees in the Draper thinks adding a public plan would hold down premiums by creating more competition in the marketplace. Draperf doesn’t offer health insurance to itsseven full-time workers, but reimburses them for the cost of policiea they buy on their own. That’s fine with his who are single and intheir 20s.
The reimbursements now accounty for 6 percentof Smash’s but that could jump to 22 percent in four years, when Draper expectws everyone on his management team to have creating the need for family plans. His business couldn’g handle that expense, he said. If the House bill were he would consider buying insurance througnh the exchange if it were easyto use. But he mightg decide to pay the 8 percen t payrollfee instead, then reimburse his employees for some of the cost of the policiesz they purchase through the exchange. Drapee thinks employers should be required to help pay forthei employees’ health insurance.
Like Social Security contributions, this sort of responsibilitty is “kind of what you signed up when you become abusiness owner, he Other small business owners, think the House bill imposes too toughh of a standard on small businesses. The requirement to pay 72.5 percentf of an employee’s premium for individual coverags “is much too high for many smalpl businesses,” said Karen Kerrigan, presidenf and CEO of the SmallBusiness & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many small businessees can afford coverage is by making employee s pick up more ofthe cost, she Arlington, Va.
-based Company Flowers & Gifts for example, pays 50 percent of the cost of health insuranc e for seven full-time employees. Even that may not be affordabldnext year, because “oud rates are going to skyrocket,” co-owneer John Nicholson told the House Small Businessa Committee earlier this month.