There Are 7 Responses So Far. »

1. 

   Comment by missoula physical therapist on 21 December 2009:

   This will just be passed along to the consumer and further slow down any recovery in new construction housing because of higher prices, as well as put a bunch of contractors out of business.
2. 

   Comment by Matthew Rathbun on 22 December 2009:

   This keeps getting dumber, the more it’s exposed. To me this is like “minimum wage” all it does it shut down small business. The person they are trying to help (blue collar workers) think that it’ll be great, until their job is shut down.

   I live in a rural area, so all business are small, this means that the workers will have to travel 45 minutes to an hour with all the other workers from surrounding companies to vie for jobs at large builders who can afford the insurance. Thus increased gas expense, time away from the family and significantly more competition for the same type of job.

   Just stupid….
3. 

   Comment by Trish Nelson on 22 December 2009:

   Thanks for exposing this. I am in the real estate industry and I have shared it on my Facebook page.
4. 

   Comment by Tom Royce on 22 December 2009:

   Matthew,

   It is amazing how out of touch the politicians are. The small construction companies have no lobbyists in Washington so they are invisible to our pols. Yet they comprise the majority of builders in the country.

   Trish, Thanks for spreading the word!

5. Pingback by Healthcare Bill hurts builders « Arkansas Real Estate/Property News on 23 December 2009:

   [...] December 24, 2009 · Leave a Comment At least small builders. While every other industry has to provide health coverage for employers at 50 employees, contractors will have to provide insurance at 5 employees. [...]
6. 

   Comment by Stan Kolbe on 30 December 2009:

   Thousands of Small Businesses Support Lower Construction Industry Standard in Senate Health Bill

   ?One provision of key importance to The Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association (SMACNA) a national trade group of nearly 5.000 construction industry corporate employers who provide health insurance for their workers is an amendment sponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) to establish a separate construction industry size standard for the small business exemption in the bill.

   The Merkley amendment would require – beginning in 2014 – construction industry employers with five employees or more (35% of all employers) and $250,000 in payroll to provide health-care benefits or pay a $750 penalty per employee per year. SMACNA commends the work of Sen. Merkley over the last three months to get this provision included in a final bill.

   The Senate bill was crafted to expand coverage to as many U.S. citizens as possible. Covering more individuals is important to driving down costs and to easing the cost-shifting burden felt by those providing insurance for their workers. Cost-shifting results in higher premiums and higher health-care costs for those receiving and providing insurance because of the uncompensated care costs of the uninsured and the underinsured.

   Egregious employer cost-shifting practices increase the burden on all taxpayers while significantly increasing premium costs for responsible employers providing their employees with health insurance. Government subsidies, provided for in the bill, would cover construction workers whose employers don’t provide health insurance continuing to shift the cost away from the employer to the taxpayers and to local, state and federal programs.

   Without the Merkley provision the cost-shifting will continue in the construction industry by those firms pushing their employee health care expenses onto the premiums of other responsible employers and onto the health system through skyrocketing uncompensated care costs.

   Construction is not like other industries and has one of the worst safety records, is considered a high risk / hazardous occupation with five times the death rate of average firms yet too many firms of significant size pass on their health costs to the public assisted providers, Medicaid, emergency rooms and those with insurance though much higher premiums.

   The Senate bill provides a general exemption for small businesses with 50 or less employees but as SMACNA President Lindemulder observed, “fifty employees is not a number that makes sense for the construction industry where small businesses dominate.”

   Ninety percent of construction contractors have 20 employees or fewer. Under the Merkley amendment approximately 65 percent of construction employers will remain exempt from the requirement to provide insurance or pay a $750 penalty. Furthermore, Lindemulder noted that “while $750 is not much of a penalty in an industry where some pay more than $15,000 per year per employee to provide quality health care, it does begin to address the cost-shifting that now occurs.”

   SMACNA, an international trade association representing 5000 contributing contractor corporations, is dedicated to promoting quality and excellence in the sheet metal and air conditioning industry. SMACNA has national offices in Chantilly, Va., outside of Washington, D.C., as well as on Capitol Hill.

   Stan Kolbe
   SMACNA, Inc
   Capitol Hill
   Washington, DC
7. 

   Comment by Michael on 12 January 2010:

   Amazing. I have 9 employees. My books are open to them. We make a decent living. I have some employees who have there own health plan, others who live beyond there means. so they cannot afford health insurance. I will split the cost with my employees.

   At some point if they keep it up we will have no business. Amazing.

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