Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) last week unveiled an $849 billion health care reform package that aims to extend health care coverage to approximately 30 million Americans and adds an assortment of tax increases.
Under the Senate bill, businesses with more than 50 employees that do not offer health coverage to their full-time employees, and that have at least one employee who qualifies for government-subsidized insurance, would face a penalty of $750 for every full-time employee. Employers that do offer coverage would pay a penalty of $3,000 for each employee receiving insurance premium subsidies or $750 for all full-time employees, whichever is less.
The bill defines a full-time employee as a person who is employed, on average, "at least 30 hours of service per week." The bill provides that "hours of service" will be defined in regulations developed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Labor. ASA and other business groups are urging that full-time be clarified in the law, not in regulations, to mean an employee must work an average of 30 hours per week over a full calendar quarter-at least 390 hours-before any penalties are assessed on employers.
The bill contains a government-run health care plan-the "public option"-but unlike the House bill passed two weeks ago, the Senate bill allows states to opt out before the law goes into effect in 2014. Moderate Democrats, including Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), and Ben Nelson (D-NE), have expressed serious concerns about the government plan, raising some doubts as to whether Democrats will have enough votes to pass the bill.
The bill has a long way to go, and there's little time left in the year to overcome an expected series of major procedural hurdles. Debate on the merits of the bill is expected to begin next week and will likely continue for several weeks. Democrats hope to pass their bill before Christmas, after which it must be reconciled with the House bill.
ASA will present an InterAction Webinar Tuesday, Dec. 1-free for ASA members-to help staffing firms understand the implications of the legislation and learn what they can do to help protect the industry and their businesses. For more information and to register, visit americanstaffing.net.