Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Federal Health Care Bills Move to Floor
Congressional action on the health care bills is moving to the floor of the Senate and House, as both bills have taken a turn for the worse from an employer’s perspective. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is merging the actions of two Senate Committees and has added a public insurance option (with a state opt-out) that will shift costs to private insurance payers. It would also create penalties on employers (up to $750 times the total number of employees) if employees use health insurance tax subsidies. Senate action is expected later this month.
The House of Representatives will likely vote within the next week on the 1,990 page H.R 3962 - what has been called “the worst bill ever.” Businesses with annual payrolls of over $500,000 would be required to offer qualifying health insurance or pay a payroll tax of up to 8 percent of salaries. The bill includes an individual income tax surcharge of 5.4 percent on incomes of over $500,000 ($1 million joint), resulting in a 46 percent federal tax rate in 2011 that largely falls on small business owners. See a detailed summary of the bill here.
Use the Chamber Action Network to urge your Senators and Representative to oppose these bills. Click here to take action.
Contact Ron Wineholt for further information at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
