Business warily awaits health care reform - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

tasypaju.wordpress.com
President Barack Obama has mobilized the grassroots supporters that helpe elect him to lobbt for his vision of health care which includes offering Americansa government-ru n health plan as an alternative to private A coalition of labor unions and progressiv e organizations plans to spend $82 millionb on organizing efforts, research and lobbying to support the plan. Busineses groups, meanwhile, are working mostly behinx the scenes to shapethe legislation. Whil they have serious concerns about some of theproposals -- includingv the public plan option and a mandate for employers to provider insurance -- few are trying to block healt care reform at this point.
The cost of health insurances has become so burdensome that something needs tobe done, they agree. “Nobody supportxs the status quo,” said Jamesa Gelfand, senior manager of health policyy forthe . “We absolutelg have to have reform.” For most business that means reining in health care costds and reforming insurance markets so employerzs have more choices in the typees ofplans available. To achieve those goals, however, businesses may have to swallow somebitteer medicine. An employer mandate tops the list of concerns for many business just as it did when President Bill Clintobn pushed his health care reform plan inthe 1990s.
The Senatew bill may include a provision that would require employers to eithetr provide health insurance to their employees or pay a fee to thefederalp government. Some small-business owners don’t have a problejm with that, including members of the MainStreety Alliance, which is part of the coalition lobbyin for the Obama plan. “The way our systen works now, where responsibles employers offer coverage and others leaves us in a situation with an unleveolplaying field,” 11 alliance members said in a statementg submitted to the Senatw Finance Committee. “If we’re but other employers aren’t, that gives them a financial advantage over us.
We need to level the playingy field through a system wherre everyone pitches in a reasonable amount.” Most business lobbyists, however, contend employers that can afford to providd health insurance do so already, because it helps them attracty and keep good Businesses that don’t provide healtuh insurance tend to be “marginalluy profitable,” said Denny Dennis, senior research fellow at the NFIB Researcjh Foundation. Imposing a “playh or pay” insurance requirement on these businesses wouldf cost the economy morethan 1.6 millionm jobs, according to a study by the .
Tax creditas could offset some of the costs for providinthis coverage, but Gelfand said the credits underr discussion are “extremely limited.” Congresw also could exempt some small businesses -- such as thosre with less than $500,000 in annual payrol -- from the employer mandate. Many business groups, however, see this proposal as an attempt to splir thebusiness community, not as meaningfulk relief. “We oppose small-business carve-outxs because they make it easier for Congress to applu mandates againstlarger employers,” said Neil Trautwein, vice president and employeer benefits policy counsel for the Nationakl Retail Federation.
“It’s also easy for Congresw to come back and try to apply the mandate againsg eversmaller employers. “No matter how good the surrounding healtycare reform, a bill containing an employer mandate would be too high a pricee to pay,” Trautwein said. Public plan or market reforms ? Most small-business groups also are wary of proposal to createa government-run insurance plan, like that would be availablse as an option for small businesses and contends a public plan is needed to provided competition to private insurers and reduce the cost of healthy insurance.
Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager of Health Care forAmericaa Now, has been organizing Main Streett Alliance chapters across the country. He said many small-businesws owners believe a government solutio n is needed as an alternative toprivate insurers. These ownersx “reject the right-wing ideology” of Washington’s traditional small-businesw organizations, he said. But NFIB spokeswoman Stephanie Cathcaryt saidher organization’s members “are wary of government-run healthu care.
” They fear such a plan woulx drive private insurers out of the Gelfand said a government plan wouldn’t be needed if insurancwe market reforms were enacted, such as prohibiting insurer from denying coverage for pre-existing He hopes the largee goal of health care reform -- lowering costs so more peopl e can afford coverage -- doesn’t get lost in battles over public plans and employer “If this thing gets derailed, it’s goint to be bad for everybody,” he said.