HR: Small Business Health Relief?
Here we go again….. More legislation has been introduced on health care reform. This time around the legislation aims to 
help lift the burden off of small businesses.
The legislation- “The Small Business Health Relief Act” is the result of a partnership of about 25 business groups that have joined forces in an effort to repeal health care reform’s tax on health insurance companies. The name of this alliance is Stop the HIT (Health Insurance Tax) Coalition.
The Small Business Health Relief Act, introduced at the end of May, would repeal 3 health care provisions:
- the health insurance tax - The tax on health insurance companies, which starts at $8 billion a year in 2014 and will rise to $14.3 billion in 2018.
- the employer mandate – which requires businesses with 50 or more employees to provide insurance beginning in 2014 or pay a fee to the government.
- restrictions on the use of flexible spending accounts (FSA’s) and would allow people who like their health plan to keep it.
For the small business community, controlling the costs of health insurance premiums has been a top concern for many years. The Stop the HIT Coalition believes that the health insurance tax will be passed from insurers to small business and their employees- raising their health care costs. If the new legislation is passed, the Coalition hopes employers will get some relief from the fees and mandates that were enacted in health care reform.