A new issue brief from the Economic Policy Institute claims that small business will be one of the primary beneficiaries of the healthcare reform plan passed by the House.
"Small businesses bear a heavy burden in the current failing healthcare system," said Elise Gould, director of health policy research at the Economic Policy Institute. "Small businesses and their employees pay higher prices for less coverage. They are often priced out of the private market completely, and when that happens, it puts them at a great disadvantage when it comes to hiring and retaining employees."
The EPI brief, “Health Care Reform: Big benefits for small businesses,” and a companion policy memo by Gould, Josh Bivens and Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, compares the current House bill to a similar plan called Health Care for America, authored by Jacob Hacker as part of EPI's Agenda for Shared Prosperity program.
Both the House bill and the EPI plan create a new public insurance option and a requirement that employers offer affordable coverage to their workers or pay to defray the costs of enrolling in a national insurance marketplace.
"The gains to small business are likely to be even greater under the House version of the healthcare reform bill, as it is even more generous to small business," said Bivens.
According to the findings, the largest savings for businesses would accrue to those small employers already covering their employees. For example, the simulation of the EPI plan found that firms with fewer than 10 employees stand to save $3,502 per worker per year.
Dave Mason, legislative and policy director for the Main Street Alliance, a network of state small business coalitions, agreed with the EPI assessment.
"The House health reform bill addresses key priorities our small business owners hold: giving small businesses new and simplified choices through an exchange framework, increasing leverage and driving down costs through inclusion of a strong public health insurance plan that will keep private insurers honest, and making coverage more affordable through a system of shared commitment," said Mason.