Dunkirk Observer
11/17/11
Op-ed by Natalie Luczkowiak
In our region, like so much of the rest of upstate New York, business owners are struggling in a brutal economy.
Fundamental to their success is attracting and keeping good employees, and good health insurance is key to achieving this goal. The Affordable Care Act, the new health care law passed by Congress and signed by the President in March of 2010, takes several steps to help small businesses to provide quality health insurance at an affordable price to their employees.
Several provisions of the law that help small businesses are already in place. Federal tax credits are available to help small businesses purchase insurance for their employees. The new federal credit covers up to 35 percent of the employer’s share of the premiums they pay for health insurance for their employees. To qualify for the credit, a small business can’t have more than 25 employees, and the average annual wages of its employees can’t be more than $50,000. But that’s a lot of businesses: an estimated 285,000 New York small businesses in New York alone are estimated to be eligible for the new tax credit. Non-profits are eligible for the credit too, but the rules are slightly different.
In 2014, things will get a lot better, not just because the credit will increase to up to 50 percent of the employer’s share, but because of the new health insurance exchanges that will be set up in New York and other states that year.
What, you say, are exchanges? Basically, an exchange is like a shopping mall for health insurance where small businesses, along with individuals and families, will be able to buy affordable health coverage. If we do it right, only quality, comprehensive benefit plans will be sold on the exchange. The key for small business is cheaper health coverage: by banding together with thousands of small businesses and individual consumers, you’ll be able to buy cheaper coverage for your employees than purchasing it in the small group market we have today.
And – if we do it right in New York – there will be real protections against the kind of unfair insurance practices we have today, because the exchange will also act like a cop on the beat. Exchanges will, for example, have rules against misleading marketing practices. If a health insurer violates these rules, the state will be able to step in, and, in extreme cases, even be able to ban a health insurer from selling insurance through the exchange. And organizations like mine that are funded to provide consumer assistance under the ACA will be available to help consumers (individuals and businesses) with disputes with insurers over such issues as unfair denials of coverage.
In order for many of these protections to come into place, New York state has to pass legislation as soon as possible that allows the state to set up the exchange. If it doesn’t, the federal government will set up an exchange in New York, giving our state’s residents less say in how health care is set up in our state. At the end of the Legislature’s 2011 session, the State Assembly passed exchange legislation agreed to by the Governor and the Assembly and Senate leadership, but the State Senate failed to act. The State Senate has not indicated when it will return to act on the bill. If you believe that small businesses and individual consumers will benefit from a consumer-driven exchange, it’s worth calling our local State Sen. Cathy Young to let her know what you think and to urge the Senate to consider this bill.
