The Patient Protection Act of 2010 was supposed to be the panacea for high premium costs that pose a barrier for small businesses to provide coverage. To date, most small business owners I talk to say their premiums costs continue to rise, undaunted by the legislation. What’s more, uncertainty about future costs and government regulation on health care abounds. Here are some recent developments on the health insurance front: 

  • The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case on whether the law (particularly the personal mandate requiring all individuals to have coverage or pay a penalty) is constitutional. Oral arguments likely will be in March 2012, with a final decision coming in June 2012. However, June may not bring a final determination on the constitutionality of the law; the court could decide to rule on procedural grounds, which would delay an ultimate ruling on constitutionality until 2015 or later.
  • House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee heard testimony that the small employer health insurance credit designed to encourage small companies to provide or continue their coverage has been a flop. Critics say the credit is too complex (“convoluted”) and does not provide any incentives; it merely operates as a reward for those employers that happen to qualify for it. (If you want to learn more about the credit, read the instructions to IRS Form 8941, Credit for Small Employer Health Insurance Premiums.
  • A report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that as of mid-May 2011, just over 228,000 taxpayers had claimed the credit. This is far fewer than the 4 million predicted when the credit was enacted last year.

On November 16, 2011, MyVenturePad held a webinar on Rising Costs, Unclear Mandates: How to Contain the Growing Cost of Employee Health Insurance. I was the moderator and the panelists were Robert Levin, editor-in-chief and publisher of the New York Enterprise Report, Dr. Bob Graboyes, the senior health care advisor for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), and David Williams, co-founder of MedPharma Partners and author of Health Business Blog. If you missed the program, you can read a transcript through MyVenturePad.