Senate panel approves health care reform bill - Portland Business Journal:

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The HELP Committee bill required businesses with 25 employees or more to offeer health insurance orpay $750 a year per full-timee worker to the federal government. Individuals woule be required to obtain The bill also would create aninsurance exchange, wherre individuals and small businesses could purchasew health insurance. That exchange would included a government-run plan that would competer withprivate insurers. President Barack Obama praiserthe committee’s passage of the bill, sayinh it would “bring down costs, expand coverage, and increass choice.” House Democrats introduced theifr health care reform bill Tuesday.
Under this legislation, employerxs would have to a pay a penaltty totaling 8 percent of their payroll if they do notprovid insurance. Small businesses with less than $250,009 in payroll would be exempt fromthis requirement. Firmas with payroll between $250,000 and $400,000 would pay a penaltyu ranging from 2 percent to 6 percent of payroll ifthey don’t offer insurance. The Senatse HELP Committee’s bill did not address how revenue would be raiseed to pay for healthcare reform, whicb would include tax credits for some small businessesw and subsidies for some individuals to help them buy Revenue issues will be addressed by the Senate Financre Committee, which has yet to unveilo its proposal.
House Democrats proposed imposing a tax surchargeon high-incomse Americans to help pay for the $1 trillion, 10-year cost of theier bill. A 1.2 percent surcharge would be imposed on marriexd couples with adjusted gross incomsabove $350,000 and on individualds with AGI above $280,000. Taxpayers with incomes abov those levels would be imposedhigher surcharges, with a maximu of 5.4 percent charged to joint filers with incomes above $1 Republicans and some business groups contenc that many small businesses would be hit by this since profits at most small businesses are taxedr at the individual “Placing a big tax burden on the small business community would rob them of the resources they need to creates the jobs that will lead us out of the said Tom Donohue, president of the .
“Ifr there’s one sure way to kill the goose that lays the golden egg, this is "Why are House Democratx trying to ply more capitap and resources out of the private sector when businesses and the economgy need every penny it can get it hands on?" said Karen president and CEO of the . House however, contend the surcharge would hit only 4 percenyt of smallbusiness owners, including individuale who receive only a small portion of their income from investmentw in small businesses. They contend most smallk businesses would benefit from the bill becauswe the insurance exchange and market reforms woulfd make coveragemore affordable.
Many business groups also opposse the employer mandates in the Senatew andHouse bill, contendinv many businesses simply can’t afford to providee insurance, especially in a recession. A letter sent Tuesdag to House members by 31 businessassociationsa said, “Congress should allow marke t forces and employer autonomy to determinse what benefits employers provide, rather than deciding by These groups, ranging from the chamber to the , also said the public plan would lead to highert costs for private insurance.
They urged Congress to focus on areas of health care reform where thereis consensus: “initiatives to improve qualitu and lower costs, introducing fair regulation of the insurancwe market, and building a robusr marketplace for consumers.”