Congress Trying to Ram Through Healthcare Reform

The House is expected to vote by the end of the week on the Senate’s version of the healthcare reform bill. Powerful forces are lining up against us to ram through a bill that threatens you and your business. They’re even trying to avoid casting an up-or-down vote on the bill.

Those forces claim that this $900 billion bill will lower costs. But let’s face the facts: This bill is about helping everyone except small business. Here are three things you need to know about the legislation being forced through Congress.

1. Small businesses will be required to provide health insurance.

This bill is loaded with mandates and expensive punishments. Despite their claims, Congress has not looked out for the needs of small business. But they’ve been keeping an eye on your wallets, because small business will be the big “payer” in this bill. Plain and simple, the legislation forces small firms (with 50 or more employees) to provide health insurance, whether they can afford it or not. And in a backroom union deal, it was extended to apply to already-struggling small construction firms with as few as five employees, with penalties so outrageously high they could devastate any local construction firm.

2. Small businesses will pay more taxes.

You’ll be saddled with a new, annual $6.7 billion tax on your health plan. Congress will tell you that this is a tax on the big, bad insurers. But they’re overlooking one major point. Insurers aren’t just going to absorb $6.7 billion out of the goodness of their heart. They’ll pass it on to their customers, to the tune of more than $500 per family, per year. Even worse, you’ll shoulder the burden alone, because big business and unions negotiated a deal that exempts them.

3. Neither you nor your employees will be able to “keep the coverage you have.”

This bill removes much of the already-limited flexibility small employers have and need when shopping for health insurance plans. You now will be forced to buy plans that meet benefits standards set by the government, even if you don’t need a plan that extensive.

For most of you, your costs will go up in order to pay for these new expensive coverage requirements. You need more choices and more flexibility, not more out-of-touch officials in Washington telling you what kind of insurance to buy.

So not only does the plan spend $900 billion we don’t have, but it’s paid for on your back. This is not the reform you asked for or can afford. You need reform that lowers costs, and the bill Congress is trying to jam through simply doesn’t do that.

As we watch Congress recklessly abandon the normal legislative process, it’s up to us to let them know they’re pushing policies that threaten you and your community’s very livelihood.

Click this link for the full NFIB article: http://www.nfib.com/tabid/565/Default.aspx?cmsid=51053&v=1&WT.mc_id=i03182010&WT.dcsvid=489429105&WT.ti=NFIB+Insight+03182010&WT.z_emailAddress=dcrow@tctgc.com&WT.z_jobID=10594037