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

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That goal, however, may not be achievex in the legislation now movinhgthrough Congress, some business groups fear. They’re afraid the bill beinb marked up this month by theSenate Education, Labor and Pensions Committees won’t do enough to control healthh care costs, but will go too far in imposinyg stiff new insurance requirements—including minimum coverage levels—oh employers. They also worry that includinta government-run plan as an option in new insurancd exchanges would lead hospitals and doctorw to charge private insurers more for their services in ordert to compensate for underpayments they would receive from the publi plan. The U.S.
Chamber of Commerce has e-mailed its members, urging them to oppose the SenatewHELP Committee’s bill, calling it “a dangerous James Gelfand, the chamber’s senior manager of healtbh policy, said now is the time for businesses to demandc changes in the bill, including strikinh a requirement for employers to providre insurance to their workers. “W need health reform,” Gelfand said, but if the bill isn’f fixed, “I don’t know how we couldf possibly support it.
” The prospect of health care reform raisin g costs for small businessesis “a legitimatse fear,” said John Arensmeyer, CEO of Small Business an organization that believes employers shouldd provide insurance to theif workers. A study commissioned by the organizatio found that businesses with fewer than 100 employees could save as muchas $855 billiomn over the next 10 years if health care reform is The analysis, conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology economisy Jonathan Gruber, assumes that Congresa will require all but the smallest firms to provide health insurance to theirf employees or pay a fee to the federal based on their size.
It also assumes that Congresa will provide tax credits to small businesses to help them pay forthe coverage—az provision that is included in the Senate HELP Committee’e bill. Todd McCracken, president of the Nationalo SmallBusiness Association, said it’s “not yet clear” whethee small businesses will be betterd off after health care Providing tax credits or othere subsidies to small businesses for insurancer coverage could “create all kinds of weird incentives and disincentives” for companies, he McCracken also is disappointed that the health care reform bills in their early forms aren’tf more aggressive about driving down healtj care costs by changing the way mediciner is practiced.
The National Federation of Independenty Business has been lobbying hard for health care reforkmfor years, with the goal of bringinfg down costs for small employers through pooling mechanismsd and insurance market reforms. Like NFIB lobbyist Amanda Austin thinkxs the Senate HELP Committee billis “a little lighgt on cost containment.” NFIB also opposes an employe r mandate and a government-run insurance plan, two key parts of that panel’ds legislation.