Brooklyn's Progress
April/May 2006

BY LETICIA THEODORE

If some New York State lawmakers have their way businesses like Wal-Mart, the Gap and Duane Reade will have to pick up at least part of the cost of providing healthcare to their currently uninsured employees.

The bill, known as the Fair Share Health Care Act (FSHCA), is one of two proposed by the Working Families Party. It would force employers with 100 or more employees to foot a portion of the cost of health coverage by spending an average $3 per hour, per employee.
 
The proposed legislation, sponsored by Westchester Republican Senator Nicholas Spano, would require employers to dig into their pockets to provide full-time employees with health insurance. The bill, which exempts manufacturing and agricultural businesses, would affect some 450,000 working New Yorkers.

There are more than 525 businesses that employ 100 or more people in Brooklyn, which means the bill could potentially affect thousands of Brooklynites.

The FSHCA is a bit more ambitious than a similar bill passed in Maryland. That bill required employers with 10,000 or more employees to put at least 8% of their payroll toward health insurance. That legislation, as well as similar legislation passed in Suffolk County, New York, is being challenged in court.  Several other states are considering similar legislation.

Employer-supported health insurance coverage has taken center stage within recent years as prices continue their relentless climb upward with no ceiling in sight. Insurance industry computations show the cost of coverage has more than doubled over the last eight years.  If current pricing trends continue the number of uninsured New Yorkers will also double in less than ten years. The debate in New York State is likely to get hotter as the state cycles through election year politics.

In the interim business owners, small and large alike, as well as their employees continue the search for more affordable options and products.

Small businesses that provide health insurance continue to buckle under the weight of skyrocketing costs while those that provide the benefit struggle to stay afloat. Over the past two years, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce Members have cited the increasing cost of health insurance as the number one obstacle to growth (71+%).

Opponents of the proposed bill say FSHCA attempts to supersede federal law and will drive up the cost of doing business in New York State which could lead to a migration of businesses to other states.

Although New York has led the nation in expanding public health programs like Medicaid, Family Health Plus and Child Health Plus, the state, according to the bill, has nearly three million uninsured residents. Eighty percent of the uninsured are working people and their dependants.

The bill is being supported by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Albany.

Meanwhile, on the federal level New York’s junior senator Hillary Rodham Clinton co-sponsored a bill, the Small Employer Health Benefits Program (SEHBP), which would create a purchasing pool that allows small businesses to negotiate costs and give employees more choices. In addition, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee passed the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act that would allow small businesses to band together to purchase health benefits for their employees.