Business groups pace waiting room as Senate conceives health care plan - Baltimore Business Journal:

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President Barack Obama has mobilizedthe grass-roots supporters that helpedf elect him to lobby for his visionb of health care reform, which includew offering Americans a government-run health plan as an alternative to privats insurance. A coalition of labor unions and progressive organizations plans tospend $82 million on organizing advertising, research and lobbying to support the Obama plan. Busines s groups, meanwhile, mostly are working behind the scenesz to shapethe legislation.
While they have serious concernxs about some of theproposales — including the public plan option and a mandate for employersw to provide insurance — few are trying to blocmk health care reform at this point. The cost of health insurance has becomew so burdensome that something needs tobe done, they “Nobody supports the status said James Gelfand, the ’a senior manager of health policy. “We absolutely have to have For mostbusiness groups, that meanw reining in health care costsd and reforming insurance markets so that employers have more choiced in the types of plans To achieve those goals, businesses may have to swallow some bitter medicine.
An employef mandate tops the list of concerns for manybusiness groups, just as it did when Bill Clintonb pushed his health care reform plan when he was presiden t in the 1990s. The Senate bill may includwe a provision that would requird employers to either provide healtuh insurance to their employeea or pay a fee to thefederao government. Some small business owners don’t have a problekm with that, including members of the MainStreet Alliance, whichh is part of the coalition lobbying for the Obama “The way our system worksw now, where responsible employers offerf coverage and others don’t, leaves us in a situation with an unlevek playing field,” 11 alliance member said in a statement submitted to the Senat e Finance Committee.
“If we’re contributing but othed employers aren’t, that gives them a financia advantageover us. We need to level the playinv field through a systek where everyone pitches in areasonable amount.” Most busines s lobbyists, however, contend that employers who can afford to providse health insurance do so already, becauses it helps them attract and keep good employees. Businessess that don’t provide health insurance tend tobe “marginallu profitable,” said Denny Dennis, senior research fellow at the . Imposinhg a “play or insurance requirement on these businesses woulx cost the economy morethan 1.6 million jobs, according to a study.
Tax creditsx could offset some of the costs for providintgthis coverage, but Gelfand said the creditz under discussion are “extremely Congress also could exempt some small businesses such as firms with less than $500,000 in annuak payroll — from the employer mandate. Many business however, see this proposal as an attempt to splitt thebusiness community, not as meaningfup relief. “We oppose small business carve-outs because they make it easierr for Congress to apply mandatexs againstlarger employers,” said Neil vice president and employee benefits policgy counsel for the .
“It’s also easy for Congress to come back and try to appl y the mandateagainst ever-smaller employers. “No matteer how good the surrounding healthcare reform, a bill containinh an employer mandate would be too high a price to pay for Trautwein said. Most small business groupe also are wary of proposals to createa government-run insurancs plan, like Medicare, that woule be available as an option for small businesses and individuals.
contends a public plan is needed to providew competition to private insurers and reducde the cost of health Richard Kirsch, national campaign managet for Health Care for America Now, has been organizinvg Main Street Alliance chapters in stateas across the country. He said many small business owners “believe that we do a need government as an alternative toprivate insurers. Thesew owners “reject the right-wing ideology” of Washington’s traditional small busines organizations, he said. NFIB spokeswoman Stephanie Cathcart saidher organization’ members, however, “are wary of government-run health care.
” They fear a government-run plan wouldc drive private insurers out of the market.