NLBMDA News - Health Care Reform May Be Funded by Tax Hikes

As Democratic leaders in the House and Senate struggle to identify methods to pay for the estimated $1 trillion price tag of health care overhaul that includes a public plan, House Democrats are reported to be leaning towards raising taxes on individuals who earn more than $280,000 and couples earning more than $350,000. Of course, these tax hikes would also impact small businesses paying on the individual rate schedule. It is estimated this would cover half the cost of the legislation, while the remainder would be covered by lower Medicare spending. Read more.

NLBMDA News - Health Care Legislation Continues to Take Shape

While the Senate Finance Committee pushed back a planned committee markup of financing options to meet the $1 trillion price tag of the Democratic health care overhaul, House and Senate Committees have continued work to draft a comprehensive bill. Unfortunately, all efforts still focus on an employer mandate that would have significant consequences for business owners, the vast majority of whom already provide health benefits, and a public option that would compete with private insurance plans. Read more.

News You Can Use - Running Your Business

Feds Target Employers of Undocumented Workers
Builders must be able to verify that they and their subs meet immigration and hiring statutes
Source: BUILDER OnlinePublication date: June 15, 2009
By John Caulfield
Last week, Michael Sivage Homes and Communities was putting the final touches on new language in its contracts that include requirements that the builder's contractors and their workers comply with current immigration and hiring laws. Read more.

Liens on Properties and Funds are Two Different Things
By Jennifer Wolfe on June 12th, 2009
Liens are one of the most powerful collection tools available to workers in the construction industry. Mechanics Liens are inexpensive and hard-hitting, and perhaps one of the most effective ways to collect on non-paying projects. A properly filed construction lien can affect a property’s title, entangles multiple parties to your dispute, and helps get you paid. Suppliers, prime/sub/sub-sub contractors and laborers all have the rights to lien a property they performed work on.

Dealers confront healthcare costs
(Jun. 12) When a panel of high-performance retailers was asked: "How are you handling health care?" the audience of Do it Best dealers was paying close attention.

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA) were among the healthcare insurance tools used by high performance retailers who participated in a panel discussion during the Do it Best May Market.

About halfway through the nearly two-hour discussion, titled "Extreme Retailing: Taking it to the next level," someone in the audience posed the question: "How are you guys handling health care?"

One of the most innovative answers came from Kyle Walters, president of Elliott's Hardware, a three-location hardware store retailer based in Dallas. "People are really key for us, and health care is always a challenge," Walters said. Read more.

HUD and CDC Push Healthy Homes Agenda
HUD deputy secretary Sims: "Our homes ought to be a place where we can raise our children without fear of making them sick."
Source: BUILDER OnlinePublication date: June 10, 2009
By Jenny Sullivan

Healthier homes can produce healthier Americans and a healthier U.S. economy.

That was the message in Washington Tuesday, where officials from the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) laid out some of the ways housing can affect public health, challenging the nation's builders, healthcare providers, community organizers, and citizens to play a more proactive role in reducing preventable diseases and accidents in the home. Read more.

NLBMDA News - Democratic Health Care Proposals Unveiled

After months of behind-the-scene work, House and Senate Democratic leaders began to reveal an outline of their health care overhaul plans last week. The issue falls under three committees' jurisdictions in the Senate so they are working together to assemble a bill. The preliminary outlines include provisions such as:

Mandating that every health insurer that offers coverage in a state must accept every employer and every individual in the state regardless of illness or preexisting conditions;
Placing new requirements on the cost of plans, such as requiring insurers to supply reports on how premiums are spent;

Expanding Medicaid by 150%;

Creating a government-run "Affordable Access Plan" that will compete with private plans;
Providing a tax credit for small businesses that provide health care based on a complicated formula to determine the cost and impact; and

Mandates on individuals to purchase health insurance and on employers to provide coverage.
Additionally, new discussions on potentially taxing employer-provided heath insurance for some or all employees is also on the table for discussion as a way to pay for health care reform.

Hearings in the Senate will begin the week of June 22 and leaders hope to complete markups in the Senate Finance, Energy and Commerce and Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committees and marry the bills before the July 4th recess. This seems to be overly ambitious at this point, but that is their goal. Democratic leaders have yet to solicit feedback from the small business community, and NLBMDA and fellow members of the Small Business Health Care Coalition continue to oppose any employer mandate or plan that puts an overwhelming cost on small business owners. Original source.

NLBMDA News - Health Care Reform

Senate Finance Committee to Take Up Health Care Reform This Month
With Congress resuming work this week, a lot of eyes will be on the Senate Finance Committee's efforts to pass a health care reform bill out of committee. While there are hundreds of issues, the three marquee issues are whether the government will offer a "public option" for obtaining heath care benefits, whether there will be mandates for individuals and/or employers to participate and some determination of the fate of the current exclusion from income of employees for the value of health care benefits received through their employers. Read more.

House Republicans Propose Alternative Health Care Reform
The House GOP Health Care Solutions Group, chaired by Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) last week unveiled an alternative to the expected Democratic plan that will likely include a government-sponsored health plan and mandates on employers and/or individuals. The GOP alternative aims to increase access to health care and to reduce health care costs by removing wasteful and fraudulent activity in our nation's entitlement programs and changing rules that allow trial lawyers to get rich off of medical liability lawsuits. The plan proposes pooling opportunities and incentives for states to form regional partnerships in order to help small businesses provide health care to their employees.