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

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President Obama has mobilized the grass-roots supporters that helped elect him to lobby for his vision of healtjcare reform, which includee offering Americans a government-run healt plan as an alternative to privat insurance. A coalition of labor unions and progressive organizations planzs tospend $82 million on organizint efforts, advertising, research and lobbying to support the Obama Business groups, meanwhile, mostly are working behindf the scenes to shape the legislation.
Althoughu they have serious concerns about some of the proposals including the public plan option and a mandate for employerxs to provideinsurance — few are tryingf to block health care reform at this The cost of health insurance has become so burdensomes that something needs to be done, they “Nobody supports the statu quo,” said James Gelfand, the ’s senior manager of health “We absolutely have to have reform.” For most business that means reining in health care costd and reforming insurance markets so that employerws have more choices in the types of plans available.
To achieve those goals, however, businessex might have to swallow somebittere medicine. An employer mandate tops the list of concerns for manybusineszs groups, just as it did when Bill Clintonn pushed his health care reform plan in the 1990s. The Senate bill might include a provision that wouldf require employers to either provide health insurancr to their employees or pay a fee to thefederakl government.
Some small-business owners don’tg have a problem with that, including members of the MainStreetg Alliance, which is part of the coalition lobbying for the Obama “The way our system works now, where responsible employers offer coverage and others don’t, leaves us in a situationh with an unlevel playing field,” 11 alliance memberas said in a statement submitted to the Senate Finance “If we’re contributing but other employersx aren’t, that gives them a financial advantaged over us,” the statement said. “We need to level the playing field through a syste where everyone pitches in areasonable amount.
” But most businessa lobbyists contend that employerss who can afford to provide healt insurance do so already becausew it helps them attract and keep good employees. Businessex that don’t provide health insurance tend tobe “marginally said Denny Dennis, senior research fellowa at the NFIB Research Foundation. Imposing a “play-or-pay” insurance requirement on these businesses would cost the economy morethan 1.6 milliobn jobs, according to a study. Tax credits couled offset some of the costs for providinfgthis coverage, but Gelfand said the creditz that are under discussion are “extremely limited.
” Congress also couled exempt some small businesses — such as firms with less than $500,000p in annual payroll — from the employer But many business groups see this proposal as an attempt to spli the business community, not as meaningful relief. “We oppose small-business carve-outs because they make it easier for Congresas to apply mandates againstlarger employers,” said Neil Trautwein, vice president and employere benefits policy counsel of the Nationao Retail Federation. “It’s also easy for Congress to come back and try to applhy the mandateagainst ever-smaller employers.
“Nol matter how good the surrounding healthcare reform, a bill containingg an employer mandate would be too high a price to pay for Trautwein said. Public plan or market reforms