Many expect increase in health care cost
BY PAULA BURKES, The Oklahoman (Published: April 25, 2010)

Oklahoma City business owner Linda Durbin used to love to tell job applicants her medical research equipment firm offers a $500 deductible health insurance plan and pays 100 percent of premiums.

No longer. To offset a 29 percent increase in costs, due partly to an increased and aging staff, Durbin this year hiked her plan’s deductible to $2,000, increased co-pays from $20 to $30 and dumped prescription cards.

Durbin’s company, Exakt Technologies Inc., still pays 100 percent of premiums — roughly $650 per employee per month — but managed to hold cost increases to 10 percent by cutting benefits and funding health reimbursement accounts for the 23 people under her employ.

"The cost of health care is out of control,” said Durbin, who, being in the medical field, knows that all too well. "Part of the problem is providers want the latest and greatest MRIs, surgical robots and other technology, and it’s driving costs through the roof.”

Still, Durbin said she’s committed to offering health insurance to attract and retain good employees, and — with last month’s passage of health care reform — hopeful her rates will drop.

Immediate tax incentives for small firms that offer health insurance — and penalties, starting in 2014, for companies with 50-plus employees that don’t — will translate to more of the nation’s younger and healthier workers being insured so insurance risks are spread across a broader base, advocates say.

While Durbin is cautiously optimistic, most of her peers are pessimistic or confused, according to a recent online poll of 787 women business owners commissioned by The Oklahoman and conducted by EWF International peer advisory group.

Of 78 respondents — 57 percent of whom already offer health insurance — 40 percent believe health care reform will negatively affect their firms. Twenty-two percent believe it will have a positive effect and 38 percent are unsure.

Write-in comments ranged from "I’m most pleased that there will be access to health care for many people who don’t currently have it” and "I hope this makes health insurance within our reach” to "I fear mandates could cause me to downsize and not be able to hire those who desperately need jobs” and "It may make it unprofitable for me to remain in business.”

EWF president Darcie Harris is surprised so many women business owners expect a negative effect, when only 19 percent said they fully understand the bill. "It shows that when there’s a lack of, or gap in, information, many view it as negative,” Harris said. "And when you start making decisions out of fear, that’s never good for business.”

Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Service on Monday began mailing postcards to more than 4 million small businesses — 54,428 in Oklahoma — to make them aware of an immediate tax credit included in the health care bill. Employers of 24 or fewer full-time employees who pay at least half the cost of single health insurance coverage for their employees may claim tax credits of up to 35 percent of premiums, spokeswoman Karen Connelly said.

The credit depends on the number of full-time employees and average annual wages, which can be no more than $50,000, with the maximum credit going to employers with 10 or fewer workers and average annual wages of $25,000 or less. "It’s designed to encourage small employers to offer health insurance coverage for the first time or maintain coverage they already have,” Connelly said.

In Oklahoma, some small employers may qualify for the new tax credits and Insure Oklahoma, which uses state tobacco tax revenues matched with federal funds to provide at least 60 percent of premium assistance to low-income employees ($20,420 for individuals; $41,000 for a family of four) of businesses with 99 or fewer workers. More than 4,000 businesses currently participate in the program.

"We found nothing in our review of the new federal law which precludes a small business from participating in Insure Oklahoma and receiving the federal tax credits if they qualify for both,” said Jo Kilgore, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority.

Businesses interested in the credits should consult a tax attorney, she said. For more information on Insure Oklahoma, contact insureOklahoma.org or (888) 365-3742.

Oklahoma City’s Pam Guffey of Gold Star Graphics and Kathleen Oliver of Shield Manufacturing participate in Insure Oklahoma and plan to check into the new federal tax credits.

Insure Oklahoma already saves her screen printing and embroidery business about $1,000 a month on premiums, Guffey said. Of her 13 employees, five qualify for premium assistance.

Thanks to premium reimbursements for three qualifying employees, Oliver was able to reset her firm’s health plan deductible to $500 from $1,000, and share the savings among her 10 employees who manufacture plastic film for meat products.

"When you have a small business, it’s like your extended family,” Oliver said. "And that’s what you do for family.”

(http://www.newsok.com/many-expect-increase-in-health-care-costs/article/3456633?custom_click=lead_story_title#ixzz0m7qjgPKa)