“Strengthening” Massachusetts Health Care Reform House Bill 1166 & Senate Bill 661

With only one year under the belt of the health care reform law it may seem too soon to tinker with the new law and yet that is exactly what the legislature has proposed in two bills on Beacon Hill.

HB1166 and SB661 include proposals to increase the employer contribution required under the fair share contribution (FSC) from 33% of the cost of an individual health insurance policy to 50%, as well as increasing the secondary test to determine if an employer is deemed to make a fair and reasonable contribution from 25% employee take up of the employer’s group health plan to 50% participation. The bills also call for all group health plans to meet the standard of minimum creditable coverage in addition to requiring inclusion of the pro-rata allocation of part time and seasonal employees in the calculation of the percentage of enrolled employees. Currently the enrollment provision applies only to the employer’s full-time employees.

Many provisions of the current law just took effect in July of this year and businesses are only starting to understand their responsibility under the law. Not only is it premature to change the law but changes that increase the burden on the business community unfairly tip the balance of responsibility between the state, the employers and the individuals. In addition to the fair share assessment, as it currently stands, employers are responsible for establishing a Section 125 plan and HIRD form reporting both of which are time consuming and costly, especially for companies too small to have a human resources department or to use payroll services. Moreover, there are already the unforeseen costs such as greater employee take-up of employer insurance due to the individual mandate.

More than 75 senators and representatives have signed on as sponsors of the bills, including several members of the North Central Massachusetts delegation. Both bills are currently before the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. Share your concerns about these incremental changes even if your company is currently exempt from the law.

If these changes are approved, what is next - the business community’s share of responsibility becoming 100% or expanding mandates to include businesses with fewer than 11 full-time employees? Don’t wait until this bill becomes a law before contacting your senator and representative! Contact your elected officials today and tell them that strengthening the health care law should not come at the expense of weakening the business community. Both bills currently remain in the Joint Committee on Health Care (JHC) with no action since a hearing was held in July, 2007.

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