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In Health Bill for Everyone, Provisions for a Few

WASHINGTON — Early versions of the Senate’s far-reaching health care bill said that small businesses with fewer than 50 workers would not be penalized if they failed to provide insurance. That was before labor unions in the construction industry went to work and persuaded Senate leaders to insert five paragraphs.

Their provision, added to the 2,074-page bill at the last minute, singles out the construction industry for special treatment, in a way that benefits union members and contractors who use union labor.

In this one industry, the exemption from the penalty would be much more limited, available only to employers with fewer than five employees. Construction companies with five or more workers would generally have to provide health insurance or pay a penalty — an excise tax of $750 per employee.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, asked: “Why this assault on the home builders? I don’t get it.”

Labor unions that have negotiated health benefits for construction workers lobbied for the provision. Without it, they said, small nonunion employers would have an unfair competitive advantage over companies that they say do “the right thing” by providing health benefits to plumbers, electricians, carpenters, roofers and other workers in the building trades.

The provision was one of many added to the bill as senators rushed to finish the legislation by Christmas Eve. It illustrates the difficulty of establishing uniform national requirements in a country where employers have, over decades, devised myriad different arrangements for providing health insurance to employees.

The construction industry provision is receiving a second look as work begins in earnest this week to resolve differences in bills passed by the Senate and the House to remake the nation’s health care system. Other provisions sure to be scrutinized include a tax break for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan in Nebraska; Medicare coverage for residents of Libby, Mont., sickened by a mineral mine; extra Medicaid money for Massachusetts, Nebraska and Vermont; and a special dispensation for a handful of doctor-owned hospitals.

White House officials have generally acquiesced in the provisions, which they see as a normal part of the legislative process, required to secure votes for a bill overwhelmingly opposed by Republicans.

Republicans complained of “sweetheart deals,” payoffs and kickbacks. But the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, brushed aside the criticism.

“There’s a hundred senators here, and I don’t know if there is a senator that doesn’t have something in this bill that was important to them,” Mr. Reid said. “If they don’t have something in it important to them, then it doesn’t speak well of them. That’s what this legislation is all about. It’s the art of compromise.”

Health insurance for all Americans is the overarching goal of the Senate and House bills.

Employers would be subject to financial penalties if they do not provide workers with health insurance that meets federal standards. Under the Senate bill, businesses with fewer than 50 employees would be exempt from the penalties in every industry but construction.

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Pretty soon, it will be Want insurance? Go work for a construction company!
Own an construction company? Chop it down to many small companies!

Senate has gone bonkers!!! It is not like construction companies are making money hand over fist. What are they thinking???  They have no clue how to promote small businesses in this country that might have a chance to helping the country come back to especially if this green jobs thing is what is expected to turn the economy around.

-- Edited by Sanders on Monday 4th of January 2010 08:51:44 AM