The effect of health care reform on small business

Posted at 12:26 PM on December 22, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Politics

MPR's Elizabeth Stawicki has a short series this week explaining the effect of health care reform on small business. She visits several small businesses and analyzes the two health care reform plans -- House and Senate versions -- and their impact.

As part of the effort, we've created this element to help small business owners gauge whether and to what extent the legislation will affect them.

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Comments (3)

I own a small business that employs 90 people in Louisiana. We do not provide health insurance to our employees. Our employees earn between $7.25 and $9.00 per hour. We receive our income from medicaid. Our annual payroll is approx. $1.2 million. Based on what medicaid pay my company per hour I can not afford to provide health care to my employees. When I deduct payroll taxes, workman comp. insurance, general liability insurance, rent, utilities, office expenses and other expenses associated with being in business my profit margin is very low. If I am mandated to provide insurance to my employees I would be force to close my business which would eliminate those 90 jobs.

Posted by Michael | December 22, 2009 7:18 PM

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As above, we make such a low net profit that wour company will have to shut down. I don't have $120,000 laying around to pay the fines. If I had the moeny to provide insuarnce, I would have years ago. I am afraid there will be others like us.

Posted by Ray | December 24, 2009 1:49 PM

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The way I figure it, the goal of this one is not to force employers to add health care coverage, although it may force them to do that. The goal is to keep companies from dropping coverage they currently have. It they pay the employee the difference and then have the employee buy health care which the government subsidizes, the government costs go through the roof!

These bills of full this type of nonsense, trying to prevent companies and people from changing what they are currently doing to take advantage of the "new rules". This is a lost cause ... people will figure out ways around the rules to get the benefit. For example, it may even pay for low income couples (one making much more than the other) to get divorced so that one of them can get a tax credit worth $8000. Remember, it is refundable, zero taxes paid, still get the full tax credit "refunded" to them!

Posted by Bob | January 1, 2010 2:41 PM

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