Towers Perrin Health Care Reform Pulse
With fewer and fewer shopping days left before Congress adjourns for the holidays, the question remains whether the Senate can deliver a health care reform bill that will buy the 60 votes needed for filibuster-proof passage. This past week was hardly auspicious, as legislators plowed through a number of new amendments to the current bill (H.R. 3590).
Among the new proposals is one that would replace the current version of the public plan option with a national health plan offered by nonprofit entities in the private sector. If private insurers did not step forward to deliver the plan, the Office of Personnel Management (which currently administers health plans for federal employees) would be empowered to implement a government-run program as a fallback. Does this mean the public option has been struck from the Senate bill -- or has it instead become "public plan lite"?An Overview of Major Tax and Regulatory Requirements that Federal Health Reform Legislation Would Impose on Small Employers (PDF)
This policy brief summarizes some of the major requirements that health care reform legislation under consideration at the federal level will impose on smaller businesses, including the expected impact on entrepreneurship and business expansion.
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