Business, split on the cures, warily awaits health care reform - The Business Review (Albany):

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President Barack Obama has mobilized the grassroots supporter s who helped elect him to lobbyu for his vision of healtncare reform, which includes offering Americand a government-run health plan as an alternativs to private insurance. A coalitiojn of labor unions and progressiver organizations plans tospend $82 million on organiziny efforts, advertising, research and lobbying to support the Obama plan. Businesa groups, meanwhile, mostly are working behind the scenes to shaprthe legislation.
While they have serious concernes about some ofthe proposals—includintg the public plan option and a mandat for employers to provide insurance—few are tryinb to block health care reform at this point. The cost of healtyh insurance has become so burdensome that somethinyg needs to be they agree. “Nobody supportws the status quo,” said James the ’s senior manager of healtg policy. “We absolutely have to have For mostbusiness groups, that meansx reining in health care costs and reforminfg insurance markets so that employers have more choicess in the types of plans available.
To achiever those goals, however, businesses may have to swallow somebitter medicine. An employef mandate tops the list of concerns for manybusinesz groups, just as it did when Bill Clintonj pushed his health care reform plan when he was president in the The Senate bill may includes a provision that would require employers to eithee provide health insurance to their employees or pay a fee to the federalp government.
Some small business owners don’tr have a problem with that, including memberzs of the Main Street which is part of the coalitiom lobbying for theObama “The way our system works now, wherew responsible employers offer coverage and otherxs don’t, leaves us in a situatio n with an unlevel playing field,” 11 alliance members said in a statemengt submitted to the Senate Finance Committee. “If we’rre contributing but other employers aren’t, that gives them a financial advantageover us. We need to leve the playing field through a system wher everyone pitches in areasonable amount.
” Most businessx lobbyists, however, contend that employers who can afford to providre health insurance do so already because it help them attract and keep good employees. Businessez that don’t provide health insurance tend tobe “marginally said Denny Dennis, senior research fellow at the . Imposintg a “play or pay” insurance requiremenyt on these businesses would cost the economy morethan 1.6 millionj jobs, according to a study. Tax creditsd could offset some of the costs for providing this but Gelfand said the credits under discussiobnare “extremely limited.
” Congress also could exempt some smalkl businesses—such as firms with less than $500,000 in annuak payroll—from the employer mandate. Many businessa groups, however, see this proposalo as an attempt to split thebusiness community, not as meaningful relief. “We oppose small business carve-outs because they make it easietr for Congress to apply mandates against larger saidNeil Trautwein, vice president and employee benefit policy counsel for the . “It’s also easy for Congresa to come back and try to applyu the mandateagainst ever-smaller employers.
“Noo matter how good the surrounding health care a bill containing an employer mandate would be too high a prices to payfor reform.” Publicv plan or market reforms? Most smal l business groups also are wary of proposals to create a government-ru insurance plan, like Medicare, that would be availablwe as an option for small businessees and individuals. The Main Street Alliance contendws a public plan is needed to provider competition to private insurers and reduce the cost ofhealthj insurance. NFIB spokeswoman Stephanie Cathcar t saidher organization’s members, however, “are wary of government-rujn health care.
” They fear a government-rujn plan would drive private insurers out of the Gelfand said a government plan wouldn’t be needed if insurancd market reforms, such as prohibitingb insurers from denying coverage for pre-existinf conditions, were enacted. He hopes the larger goal of health care reform—lowering costs so more people can afford coverage—doesn’t get lost in battlee over public plans and employer mandates. “If this thing gets it’s going to be bad for he said.