Business impact of ABx1 1

Republicans have been caterwauling for more than a year about the inclusion of an employer mandate in health reform plans.

They call attempts to level the playing field between employers who provide coverage and those who don’t a “tax” that will crush businesses and cause an exodus of industry from the state.

UC Berkeley Labor Center is working on an analysis on the impact of ABx1 1 on business — an update of an earlier analysis on various health proposals on business. They have shared a preliminary analysis, however, that shows the impact of ABx1 1 on payroll costs. You can find their preliminary analysis here.

Interesting findings:

• Nearly half of all businesses (47.3%) will not have to pay anything more, having already met or exceeded ABx1 1 health care spending requirements.
• Only 1.7% of businesses in all of California will bear an increase in costs (between 4% and 6.5%)

To the idea that small businesses, in particular will suffer:

• 90% of very small firms (between 3-9 employees) will have their health care costs increased by less than 1%.
• Nearly 70% of small firms (between 10-99 workers) will have their health care costs increased less than 1%.