Area small business owners weigh in with their initial reactions to the health care bill that has become law. The bill gives most businesses a choice between offering a minimum standard of insurance to their employees, which the government has yet to specify, or paying a fine of up to $2,000 per employee.
“Since my company has provided health insurance as long as I can remember, I wonder how I’m going to pay for an additional burden for those around the country who have not provided insurance.”
— Corky Coker, president of Coker Tire
“Nothing is free. If it’s free to you, its costing someone, so I think that if an employer has 50 employees and they have to enter a different bracket if they get 51, it could keep them from hiring that one extra person.”
— Lynda Childress, president and CEO of Luken Holdings