On March 31st Congressman Phil English (R-PA) introduced the Remanufacturing Tax Credit bill (HR 5659) with 5 co-sponsors:
· Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH)
· Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
· Rep. Pete Sessions (T-TX)
· Rep. James Walsh (R-NY)
· Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC)
The Automotive Parts Remanufacturers Association (APRA) encourages you and your employees to contact your member(s) of the House of Representatives and ask them to sign on as a co-sponsor of HR 5659.
Senators Introduce Small Business Health Care Bill
A bipartisan group of Senators introduced a bill April 2 that would allow for the creation of small business pools for health insurance, and create incentives for businesses to provide their employees with health insurance. The “Small Business Health Operations Program,” or SHOP, was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Richard Durbin (D-IL), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and Norm Coleman (R-MN).
The bill would allow small businesses to band together and spread risk over a large number of participants in order to obtain lower premiums. According to the sponsors, the bill would also encourage small businesses to provide their employees with health insurance by giving the businesses a tax credit of up to $1,000 per employee (or $2,000 for family coverage) if they pay 60 percent of their employees health care premiums.
“Contrary to popular belief, most people who don’t have insurance are not out of work,” Durbin said. “In fact, they work full time in small businesses that cannot afford health insurance for their workers. Small business owners across America are trying to do their part to help provide their employees with health insurance, but they are struggling with annual double-digit premium increases.”
The SHOP bill would also provide the self-insured with a $1,800 tax credit (or $3,600 for family coverage) to purchase insurance. To address the concerns of state insurance commissioners, the bill allows state to opt-out of the pools and allows the individual commissioners to continue to regulate their state’s health plans. To protect businesses with older workers, the bill would make it illegal for insurers to base ratings on health status or claims.
For more information, visit www.apra.org.
