Senate panel approves health care reform bill - Kansas City Business Journal:

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The HELP Committee bill requires businesses with 25 employeesd or more to offer health insurance orpay $750 a year per full-tim worker to the federal government. Individuals would be required toobtaim coverage. The bill also would create an insurance where individuals and small businesses could purchasehealth insurance. That exchangse would include a government-run plan that would compete with private President Barack Obama praisedthe committee’s passage of the saying it would “bring down expand coverage, and increase choice.
” House Democratsx introduced their health care reform bill Under this legislation, employers would have to a pay a penaltty totaling 8 percent of their payroll if they do not provides insurance. Small businesses with less than $250,0000 in payroll would be exempt from this Firms with payrollbetween $250,000 and $400,00 would pay a penalty ranging from 2 percen to 6 percent of payroll if they don’g offer insurance. The Senate HELP Committee’s bill did not addresw how revenue would be raised to pay for healtyhcare reform, which would include tax credits for some small businesses and subsidies for some individualas to help them buy coverage.
Revenue issuess will be addressed by the SenateFinancs Committee, which has yet to unveil its House Democrats proposed imposing a tax surcharge on high-incomer Americans to help pay for the $1 trillion, 10-yea cost of their bill. A 1.2 perceng surcharge would be imposed on married couplez with adjusted gross incomeabove $350,000 and on individuals with AGI abovd $280,000. Taxpayers with incomes above those levels would be imposedhigher surcharges, with a maximunm of 5.4 percent chargede to joint filers with incomes above $1 million.
Republicans and some busineszs groups contend that many small businesse s would be hit by this since profits at most small businesses are taxecd at theindividual level. “Placing a big tax burdenb on the small business community would rob them of the resourceds they need to create the jobs that will lead us out of the saidTom Donohue, presidentg of the . “If there’s one sure way to kill the goosed that lays thegolden egg, this is "Why are House Democrats tryiny to ply more capital and resourcesw out of the private sector when businesses and the economyh need every penny it can get it hands said Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the .
House Democrats, however, contend the surcharge would hit only 4 percengt of smallbusiness owners, including individuals who receive only a smallp portion of their income from investments in small businesses. They contend most small businessea would benefit from the bill becaus the insurance exchange and markeg reforms would make coveragemore affordable. Many business groups also oppose the employer mandatew in the Senate andHous bill, contending many businesses simply can’t afford to provide especially in a recession.
A letter sent Tuesday to Houses members by 31 businessassociationes said, “Congress should allow market forces and employef autonomy to determine what benefitd employers provide, rather than deciding by These groups, ranging from the chamber to the , also said the publicf plan would lead to higher costs for private They urged Congress to focusd on areas of health care reform wher e there is consensus: “initiatives to improvde quality and lower costs, introducing fair regulation of the insurancre market, and building a robust marketplacwe for consumers.
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