Senate panel approves health care reform bill - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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The HELP Committee bill requires businessews with 25 employees or more to offe health insurance orpay $750 a year per full-timr worker to the federal government. Individualsz would be required toobtain coverage. The bill also wouldr create aninsurance exchange, wherse individuals and small businesses could purchase healtu insurance. That exchange woulcd include a government-run plan that would compete withprivate insurers. Presiden t Barack Obama praisedthe committee’ s passage of the bill, saying it would “bring down expand coverage, and increase choice.” House Democratds introduced their health care reform bill Tuesday.
Under this legislation, employeras would have to a pay a penalty totaling 8 percenf of their payroll if they do notprovide insurance. Smalol businesses with less than $250,000 in payrolo would be exempt fromthis requirement. Firms with payrolk between $250,000 and $400,000p would pay a penaltyh ranging from 2 percent to 6 percent of payrolll ifthey don’t offer insurance. The Senat HELP Committee’s bill did not addres how revenue would be raisexd to pay for healthcare reform, which would includre tax credits for some small businesses and subsidie s for some individuals to help them buy Revenue issues will be addressed by the Senat e Finance Committee, which has yet to unveiol its proposal.
House Democratsd proposed imposing a tax surchargeson high-income Americans to help pay for the $1 10-year cost of their bill. A 1.2 percent surcharge woulc be imposed on marrierd couples with adjusted gross incomeabove $350,000 and on individualsz with adjusted gross income above $280,000. Taxpayers with income s above those levels would facehigher surcharges, with a maximunm of 5.4 percent chargefd to joint filers with incomes above $1 Republicans and some business groups contend that many small businesses would be hit by this since profits at most small businesses are taxed at the individual “Placing a big tax burden on the small busineses community would rob them of the resourceds they need to creat e the jobs that will lead us out of the said Tom Donohue, president of the .
“Itf there’s one sure way to kill the goose that lays thegolden egg, this is "Why are House Democrats tryinvg to ply more capital and resources out of the private sector when businesses and the economyh need every penny it can get its handz on?" said Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the . Houswe Democrats, however, contend the surcharge woulfd hit only 4 percent of smallbusinesx owners, including individuals who receive only a smalpl portion of their income from investmentse in small businesses. They contend most small businesses would benefi t from the bill because the insurance exchange and markef reforms would make coveragemore affordable.
Many business groupsd also oppose the employer mandates in the Senates andHouse bill, contending many businessexs simply can’t afford to provid e insurance, especially in a recession. A letter sent Tuesdayh to House members by 31 businessassociations “Congress should allow market forces and employer autonomhy to determine what benefits employera provide, rather than deciding by fiat.” These groups, ranging from the chamber to the , also said the public plan would lead to higher costs for privatre insurance.
They urged Congress to focus on areax of health care reform where thereis consensus: “initiativesz to improve quality and lower costs, introducing fair regulationb of the insurance market, and buildinv a robust marketplace for