Can Tennessee Health Insurance Reform Help The Economy?
The Affordable Care Act provides tax credits for as many as 66,000 small businesses in Tennessee and almost half of these do not cover their employees with Tennessee health insurance. Tax credits are critical to improving this situation because nine out of ten small business owners found their company's total health care coverage increased over the previous year. Three-fourths experienced a raise of at least five percent and a fourth were hit with rate increases above 15 percent.
Tennessee employees also spent more for health care coverage. More than three in five workers spent up to 15 percent more, which resulted in a third changing plans to get lower premiums. Almost half purchased plans with higher deductibles than they previously had. That allowed them to maintain some form of coverage, but at the cost of taking on the burden of higher deductibles. They now have to pay for more of their health care out of their own pockets, which frequently limits their access to health care including prevention such as regular exams.
Who Thinks That Health Care Is A Drain On The Economy?
In July of 2009, the Tennessee Small Business Coalition and the Peabody College Center for Community Studies of Vanderbilt University surveyed small businesses. They reported that 61 percent of those surveyed believed that reforming health care would help the economy.
Many small business owners see Tennessee health insurance for their employees as unaffordable because small businesses pay higher premiums than larger firms. Most (approximately 98 percent) large firms provide health insurance for their employees, but only about 46 percent of companies with less than 10 employees do so. Even among businesses with less than 50 employees, more than half (52 percent) of employees are either uninsured or have inadequate coverage.
What Does Health Care Reform Mean For Small Businesses?
Small businesses employing approximately 16.6 million people will be eligible for tax credits through the Affordable Care Act. Tax credits to fight lack of health insurance in Tennessee will become available in 2010, and the credits will increase from 35 to 50 percent in 2014.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the new tax credits can offer $40 billion in the coming decade to help reduce premiums for small businesses from eight to eleven percent by 2016. Even greater savings are predicted by 2020.
How Do Small Businesses Qualify for Tennessee Health Insurance Credits?
To qualify for the tax credits, small firms must pay for at least half of their employees' Tennessee health insurance premiums. The actual amount of the tax credit can vary depending on the size of the firm and the average wage paid.
The state health insurance exchanges should be available in 2014 to give small businesses another way to cover their employees with Tennessee health insurance. These exchanges can lower costs by pooling members. Such pools, as they're called, make it possible for the costs from members who need health care to be balanced by the premiums from members who don't incur medical bills.
By 2014, insurers will no longer by allowed to refuse to cover known health problems so all employees will be able to get health insurance for Tennessee. The exchange plans will be required to provide comprehensive benefits while limiting employee's out-of-pocket costs to $5,950 for individuals and to $11,900 for families. The health insurance deductibles for small businesses will be limited to $2,000 for individual employees and to $4,000 for family plans.
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