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

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That goal, however, may not be achievedx in the legislation now movingthrough Congress, some business groupse fear. They’re afraid the bill being marked up this montgh by theSenate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committeed won’t do enough to control healtb care costs, but will go too far in imposinh stiff new insurance requirements—including minimum coveragse levels—on employers. They also worry that includinha government-run plan as an optiojn in new insurance exchanges would lead hospitals and doctorws to charge private insurers more for theitr services in order to compensate for underpaymentse they would receive from the publivc plan. The U.S.
Chamber of Commerce has e-mailexd its members, urging them to oppose the SenatHELP Committee’s bill, calling it “a dangeroux proposal.” James Gelfand, the chamber’s senior manager of healt policy, said now is the time for businessez to demand changes in the bill, including striking a requirement for employerx to provide insurance to their workers. “Wde need health reform,” Gelfand said, but if the bill isn’ft fixed, “I don’t know how we coulxd possibly support it.
” The prospect of health care reform raisinfg costs for small businessesis “w legitimate fear,” said John Arensmeyer, CEO of Smalk Business Majority, an organization that believes employers should provide insurance to theidr workers. A study commissionefd by the organization found that businesse s with fewer than 100 employeew could save as muchas $855 billio over the next 10 years if health care refork is enacted. The analysis, conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology economisyJonathan Gruber, assumes that Congress will requirs all but the smallest firms to provide health insurance to thei employees or pay a fee to the federal based on their size.
It also assumes that Congresxs will provide tax credits to smal businesses to help them pay forthe coverage— a provision that is included in the Senatw HELP Committee’s bill. Todd McCracken, president of the National SmallBusiness Association, said it’s “not yet clear” whethet small businesses will be better off after healtbh care reform. Providing tax credits or othef subsidies to small businesses for insurance coveragecould “creats all kinds of weird incentives and for companies, he said.
McCracken also is disappointed that the healthh care reform bills in their earlyforms aren’t more aggressiv e about driving down health care costxs by changing the way medicine is practiced. The National Federatio of Independent Business has been lobbying hard for healthn care reformfor years, with the goal of bringintg down costs for small employers through pooling mechanisms and insurancw market reforms. Like McCracken, NFIB lobbyist Amanda Austin thinkes the Senate HELP Committee billis “a little ligh t on cost containment.” NFIB also opposeas an employer mandate and a government-ru n insurance plan, two key parts of that panel’sx legislation.