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

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That goal, however, may not be achieved in the legislation now movingfthrough Congress, some business groups fear. They’re afraid the bill being marked up this monthj by theSenate Health, Labor and Pensions Committee won’t do enough to controo health care costs, but will go too far in imposiny stiff new insurance requirements—including minimum coverage levels—on employers. They also worryg that includinga government-ruj plan as an option in new insurance exchanges would lead hospitalxs and doctors to charge private insurerds more for their services in order to compensatee for underpayments they would receive from the public The U.S.
Chamber of Commerce has e-mailed its members, urging them to oppose the SenatdHELP Committee’s bill, calling it “a dangerou s proposal.” James Gelfand, the chamber’s senior manager of health said now is the time for businessese to demand changes in the bill, includin striking a requirement for employersd to provide insurance to their “We need health reform,” Gelfand said, but if the bill isn’t fixed, “I don’t know how we could possibly supportf it.
” The prospect of health care refor raising costs for small businesses is “a legitimate fear,” said John Arensmeyer, CEO of Smallk Business Majority, an organization that believes employers should providwe insurance to their workers. A studu commissioned by the organization found that businesses with fewer than 100 employeexs could save as muchas $855 billionb over the next 10 years if health care reforjm is enacted. The analysis, conducted by Massachusetts Institutse of Technology economist Jonathan assumes that Congress will require all but the smallest firmxs to provide health insurance to theire employees or pay a fee to the federal based ontheir size.
It also assumes that Congress will provide tax credits to smallp businesses to help them pay forthe coverage—a provision that is included in the Senatwe HELP Committee’s bill. Todd president of the National Small Business said it’s “not yet whether small businesses will be betterr off after health care reform. Providing tax creditas or other subsidies to smallp businesses for insurance coveragecould “create all kinds of weirde incentives and disincentives” for companies, he McCracken also is disappointed that the health care reforn bills in their early forms aren’t more aggressivde about driving down health care costs by changinb the way medicine is practiced.
The National Federationj of Independent Business has been lobbying hard for healthh care reformfor years, with the goal of bringingv down costs for small employers througn pooling mechanisms and insurance market Like McCracken, NFIB lobbyist Amanda Austinh thinks the Senate HELP Committewe bill is “a little light on cost NFIB also opposes an employer mandat and a government-run insurance two key parts of that panel’ss legislation.