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

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President Barack Obama has mobilized the grassroot s supporters who helped elect him to lobbuy for his vision of healthcare reform, which includes offering Americans a government-run healtgh plan as an alternative to private insurance. A coalitionm of labor unions and progressive organizations plans tospensd $82 million on organizing advertising, research and lobbying to support the Obamqa plan. Business groups, meanwhile, mostly are working behind the sceness to shapethe legislation.
While they have seriouss concerns about some ofthe proposals—includiny the public plan option and a mandatr for employers to provide insurance—few are trying to bloc health care reform at this point. The cost of healtg insurance has become so burdensome that something needw tobe done, they agree. “Nobodu supports the status quo,” said James Gelfand, the ’w senior manager of health policy. “We absolutely have to have For mostbusiness groups, that means reining in healtyh care costs and reforming insurance markets so that employers have more choicee in the types of plans available.
To achieve those goals, however, businesses may have to swallowq somebitter medicine. An employer mandate tops the list of concernsw for manybusiness groups, just as it did when Bill Clinto pushed his health care reform plan when he was president in the 1990s. The Senat bill may include a provision that wouls require employers to either providee health insurance to their employees or pay a fee to thefederak government. Some small businese owners don’t have a problemn with that, including members of the Main Street which is part of the coalition lobbying for theObamwa plan.
“The way our system workws now, where responsible employers offer coveragw andothers don’t, leaves us in a situation with an unlevelk playing field,” 11 alliance members said in a statemeny submitted to the Senate Finance Committee. “Iff we’re contributing but other employers aren’t, that gives them a financiapl advantageover us. We need to levep the playing field through a system where everyone pitches in a reasonable amount.” Most business lobbyists, contend that employers who can afford to providd health insurance do so already because it helps them attract and keep good employees.
Businessea that don’t provide health insurance tend tobe “marginally profitable,” said Denny Dennis, senior research fellow at the . Imposing a “play or insurance requirement on these businesses would cost the economy morethan 1.6 milliob jobs, according to a study. Tax creditws could offset some of the costas for providingthis coverage, but Gelfand said the creditse under discussion are “extremely Congress also could exempt some small businesses—sucjh as firms with less than $500,000 in annuapl payroll—from the employer mandate.
Many businesss groups, however, see this proposal as an attempr to split thebusiness community, not as meaningful “We oppose small business carve-outs because they make it easier for Congresds to apply mandates againstr larger employers,” said Neil vice president and employee benefits policy counsel for the . “It’es also easy for Congress to come back and try to applg the mandateagainst ever-smaller “No matter how good the surroundinb health care reform, a bill containing an employer mandater would be too high a price to pay for reform.” Publiv plan or market reforms?
Most small businesd groups also are wary of proposales to create a government-run insurance like Medicare, that would be availablee as an option for small businesses and individuals. The Main Streeft Alliance contends a public plan is needed to provide competitionn to private insurers and reduce the cost of health NFIB spokeswoman Stephanie Cathcart saidher organization’s members, “are wary of government-run health They fear a government-run plan would drive private insurers out of the market. Gelfand said a government plan wouldn’t be neededr if insurance market reforms, such as prohibitingv insurers from denying coveragsefor pre-existing conditions, were enacted.
He hopes the larger goal of healthcare reform—lowerinhg costs so more people can afford coverage—doesn’t get lost in battlesx over public plans and employer mandates. “If this thinvg gets derailed, it’s going to be bad for everybody,” he