Westchester County Association Talks Health Care Reform
The president’s overhaul of the health care system comes with it a lot of changes and regulations for small businesses.
The Westchester County Association held a luncheon at the Doubletree Hotel in Tarrytown on Wednesday to discuss how the coming health care exchanges would impact businesses.
Sol Ross, the director of Business Outreach in the Intergovernmental and External Affairs Office in the Department of Health and Human Services, serves as a liaison between the business community and the department on the Affordable Care Act, nicknamed Obamacare.
Ross conceded that the increase in health care costs over the last few years have made it very hard for business owners to stay profitable while providing employers with health care. He said reforms have been made to make it easier to deal with insurance companies.
“For every $20 that you spend on insurance, 80 percent has to be spent on providing you care,” Ross said. “Insurance companies have to justify increasing your rates by 10 percent. Small business owners are also eligible for tax credits.”
A panel discussion was held featuring Nancy Taylor, the co-chair of Health and FDA Business Practice for the firm Greenberg Traurig and a former health policy director for the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. Taylor is currently representing some of the states that are in the process of setting up their health care exchanges.
Taylor spoke about what she thinks the Supreme Court will do about the Affordable Care Act and the impact the act could have.
“A lot of states are working on insurance reform,” Taylor said. “They are hoping to have lower costs and more competition.”
Under the act, states will limit premium rates, and insurance companies must institute an appeal and grievance process for when a claim is denied.
“The law is intended to make sure we have universal health care in the private marketplace,” Taylor said.
Taylor predicted that the Supreme Court would rule that requiring individuals to have health insurance would be ruled unconstitutional but that they would rule in favor for other aspects of the law.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
