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

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The HELP Committee bill requires businesses with 25 employeeas or more to offer health insurance orpay $750 a year per full-timr worker to the federal government. Individuals would be require toobtain coverage. The bill also would create an insuranc exchange, where individuals and smal businesses could purchasehealth insurance. That exchange would include a government-run plan that woulds compete with private President Barack Obama praisedthe committee’xs passage of the bill, saying it would “bring down expand coverage, and increase choice.” Houswe Democrats introduced their health care reform bill Tuesday.
Under this employers would have to a pay a penalty totaling 8 percengt of their payroll if they do notprovidde insurance. Small businesses with less than $250,000 in payroll would be exempr fromthis requirement. Firms with payrollp between $250,000 and $400,000 would pay a penaltt ranging from 2 percent to 6 percent of payroll ifthey don’ offer insurance. The Senate HELP Committee’s bill did not addressa how revenue would be raised to pay for health care reform, which would include tax credits for some small businesses and subsidiesd for some individuals to help them buy Revenue issues will be addressed by the Senate Finance which has yet to unveil its House Democrats proposed imposing a tax surcharg on high-income Americans to help pay for the $1 trillion, 10-yeart cost of their bill.
A 1.2 percent surcharg would be imposed on married couples with adjustecd gross incomeabove $350,000 and on individuals with adjusted grossd income above $280,000. Taxpayers with incomesz above those levels would facehigher surcharges, with a maximun of 5.4 percent charged to joint filers with incomeas above $1 million. Republicans and some business groups contend that many small businesses woulde be hit bythis surcharge, since profite at most small businesses are taxed at the individuall level.
“Placing a big tax burden on the smal business community would rob them of the resources they need to creatse the jobs that will lead us out ofthe recession,” said Tom president of the . “If there’s one sure way to kill the goosew that lays thegoldeb egg, this is it.” "Whhy are House Democrats trying to ply more capital and resourced out of the private sector when businessez and the economy need every penny it can get its handsw on?" said Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the .
Housd Democrats, however, contend the surcharge woulf hit only 4 percent of smallpbusiness owners, including individuals who receives only a small portion of their income from investment s in small businesses. They contend most smal businesses would benefit from the bill becauser the insurance exchange and markegt reforms would make coverage more Many business groups also oppose the employerf mandates in the Senate andHouse bill, contendinfg many businesses simply can’gt afford to provide insurance, especiall in a recession.
A letter sent Tuesdat to House members by 31 businessassociationd said, “Congress should allow market forceas and employer autonomy to determine what benefitxs employers provide, rather than deciding by fiat.” Theser groups, ranging from the chamber to the , also said the publicf plan would lead to higher costs for privatee insurance. They urged Congress to focus on areas of healtjh care reform where thereis consensus: “initiatives to improve qualituy and lower costs, introducingf fair regulation of the insurance market, and building a robustf marketplace for consumers.
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