Business working behind scenes to shape health care reform - Business First of Louisville:

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President Obama has mobilized the grass-roots supporters that helped elecr him to lobby for his visio of healthcare reform, whicnh includes offering Americans a government-run health plan as an alternativde to private insurance. A coalition of labor unions and progressive organizations plans tospend $82 millionb on organizing efforts, advertising, researcbh and lobbying to support the Obama plan. Business meanwhile, mostly are working behin the scenes to shapethe legislation.
Although they have seriou s concerns about some of theproposalas — including the public plan option and a mandate for employera to provide insurance — few are tryinf to block health care reform at this point. The cost of healthh insurance has become so burdensome that something needs to be they agree. “Nobody supportse the status quo,” said James the ’s senior managert of health policy. “We absolutely have to have For mostbusiness groups, that means reining in healthg care costs and reforming insurance markets so that employers have more choicess in the types of plans available.
To achievde those goals, however, businesses mighr have to swallow some bitter An employer mandate tops the list of concerns for manybusinese groups, just as it did when Bill Clinton pushe d his health care reform plan in the The Senate bill mighty include a provision that would require employersd to either provide health insurance to their employees or pay a fee to the federap government. Some small-business owners don’t have a problem with including members of the Main Street which is part of the coalitionb lobbying for theObama plan.
“Thwe way our system worksx now, where responsible employers offer coverage and others leaves us in a situation with an unlevelplayin field,” 11 alliance members said in a statement submitted to the Senate Financr Committee. “If we’re contributing but other employers aren’t, that givews them a financial advantageover us,” the statemenr said. “We need to level the playing field through a system where everyonw pitches in areasonable amount.
” But most businesd lobbyists contend that employers who can afforcd to provide health insurance do so already becauswe it helps them attract and keep good Businesses that don’t provide health insurance tend to be “marginall y profitable,” said Denny Dennis, senior research felloe at the NFIB Research Foundation. Imposing a insurance requirement on these businesses wouldd cost the economy morethan 1.6 millionm jobs, according to a study.
Tax creditsd could offset some of the costs for providinfgthis coverage, but Gelfand said the credit s that are under discussion are “extremely Congress also could exempt some small businessezs — such as firms with less than $500,0000 in annual payroll — from the employer mandate. But many business groups see this proposap as an attempt to split thebusinesz community, not as meaningful “We oppose small-business carve-outs because they make it easiere for Congress to apply mandatea against larger employers,” said Neil vice president and employee benefitz policy counsel of the National Retaipl Federation.
“It’s also easy for Congreszs to come back and try to applt the mandateagainst ever-smaller “No matter how good the surroundin health care reform, a bill containing an employef mandate would be too high a price to pay for Trautwein said. Public plan or markert reforms?