RINGGOLD, Ga. -- Northwest Georgia business leaders need to start preparing for health care reform now, two attorneys say, even though the biggest changes won't come until 2014.
"We have the law now, so like it or not, it's going to affect you," said attorney John Minor of the Ringgold law firm Minor, Bell and Neal.
At a breakfast seminar sponsored by the Catoosa County Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Minor and Tony Brown, an employee benefits specialist with Chattanooga-based Russ Blakely and Associates, outlined the changes business owners should expect from the federal health care legislation passed in March.
Mr. Brown said managers need to look into tax credits for providing coverage to employees, wellness program incentives and whether their plans could qualify to be grandfathered in under the new legislation.
Companies with fewer than 25 employees and average wages of less than $50,000 would be eligible for 35 percent tax credits on contributions to employee insurance plans, Mr. Brown said. In 2014, the credit rises to 50 percent.
"It will definitely help some people in the small-business market," he said.
By 2014, when most changes go into effect, costs will increase for insurance companies. They, in turn, will pass the cost onto their customers, Mr. Brown said.
Also in 2014, companies will have to change the way they notify employees of changes to their plans and prepare four-page "linguistically appropriate" summaries of benefits.
Rob Stiles, a manager at Flegal Insurance in Rossville, said the changes are loaded with "what ifs" and are very complicated.
"There's a lot coming," he said.
Flegal has about 17 or 18 employees, which should be below 25-employee threshold for many of the rules, he said.
"That will make it a little simpler," Mr. Stiles said.
Steve Noland, from Ready Mix USA in Dalton, said the seminar helped, but there is still plenty left to research.
"We'll be standing here next year asking them questions again," he said.
He said Ready Mix employees already are coming to the human resources department with concerns.
"A lot of employees are going to be asking questions, so HR needs to be gearing up," he said.
Andy began working at the Times Free Press in July 2008 as a general assignment reporter before focusing on Northwest Georgia and Georgia politics in May of 2009. Before coming to the Times Free Press, Andy worked for the Anniston Star, the Rome News Tribune and the Campus Carrier at Berry College, where he graduated with a communications degree in 2006. He is pursuing a master’s degree in business administration at the University of Tennessee ...
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