Is health reform plan missing the mark? - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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That goal, however, may not be achiever in the legislation now movingthrouggh Congress, some business groups fear. They’re afraid the bill being marked up this month by theSenated Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee won’t do enougy to control health care but will go too far in imposin stiff new insurance requirements including minimum coverage levels — on employers. They also worryg that includinga government-run plan as an optiojn in new insurance exchangesd would lead hospitals and doctors to charge private insurers more for their serviceds in order to compensat for underpayments they would receiv from the public plan. The U.S.
Chamber of Commerce has e-mailex its members, urging them to oppose the SenateHELP Committee’x bill, calling it “a dangerous proposal.” James Gelfand, the chamber’s senior manager of health policy, said he is optimisticv the Senate won’t go alonfg with a provision that calls for a government-appointed board to decidew what level of benefits must be included in insurancer plans. If that provision is not many employers likely would face higher insurance because senators look atthe benefits-ricg plan now offered to federall employees as the “gold standard” for health care he said.
Now is the time for businesses to demands changes in the including striking a requirement for employers to provid insurance totheir workers, he said. Many smallk businesses simply can’t afford that, the chamberf contends. “We need health reform,” Gelfandc said, but if the bill isn’t “I don’t know how we could possibly supportr it.” Business groups are hopinv the Senate Finance Committee will producselegislation that’s friendlier to employers.
The prospecf of health care reform raising costs for small businessesis “a legitimate fear,” said John CEO of Small Business Majority, an organization that believe employers should provide insurance to their workers. But if done health care reform would save smallbusinessesx money, he said. A study commissioned by the organizatio found that businesses with fewer than 100 employees could save as muchas $855 billion over the next 10 yearw if health care reform is enacted, compared with what they woule pay for health insurance if the syste isn’t reformed.
The analysis, conductec by economist Jonathan Gruber, assumes that Congress will requirs all but the smallest firms to provide healthn insurance to their employees or pay a fee to thefederalp government, based on their It also assumes that Congresz will provide tax credits to small businesses to help them pay for the coveragw — a provision that is included in the Senatwe HELP Committee’s bill. “With a strong credit, small businessesx can be a big winner inthis reform,” Gruberf said. Todd McCracken, presidenyt of the , said it’sx “not yet clear” whethetr small businesses will be better off after health care reform than theyare now.
Providing tax credits or other subsidieds to small businesses for insurance coveragecoulrd “create all kinds of weird incentives and disincentives” for he said. Basing the subsidies on size ofbusinessx isn’t a good solution because some small businesses a law firm, for example can be quite profitable, he Focusing on low-wage businesses may not be fair because that encourages companiees to pay low wages, McCracken said.