Health Care Reform

Dear Friends,
Sometimes I forget about the good things that are in the recently passed health care reform bill.  Fortunately, I get reminded from time to time.  I am reprinting below part of an email I got from Minnesota Citizens for the Arts.  It is self explanatory and certainly is a good reminder of the great things that people will find in health care reform as it begins to be implemented.

MCA
Minnesota Citizens for the Arts
2233 University Ave. W. #355
St. Paul, MN 55155
651-251-0868 fax 651-917-3561
staff at mncitizensforthearts.org
www.mncitizensforthearts.org
Arts Action Center
March 26, 2010
1. Health Care Reform Will Help Artists, and Help Small Arts Nonprofits Offer Health Care
We found out in our study Artists Count (done in collaboration with Springboard for the Arts, 2007) that artists are twice as likely as the rest of the population to be without health insurance. So, how will Health Care Reform help artists and arts organizations afford health care? Many great minds are trying to figure that out right now, but we already know a few things about reform that should be very helpful indeed, at least to some:
YOUNG ARTISTS: Can, starting now, be covered on their parent's health insurance policy until age 26.
SMALL ARTS NON-PROFITS: With the signing of the health insurance reform bill this morning, one of the very first provisions to be immediately enacted is a tax credit to small businesses to make employee coverage more affordable. Tax credits of up to 35% of premiums will be immediately available to firms (including nonprofit organizations) that choose to offer coverage. Then, beginning in 2014, these small business tax credits will cover 50 percent of premiums. Our national partner Americans for the Arts staff participated in many lobbying visits along with staff from Independent Sector relating to this provision and we are very pleased that it remained in the final legislation.

"Small employer incentive"

The final health care package would provide a tax credit beginning in 2010 through 2013 for businesses and 501(c) organizations with less than 25 employees and average wages below $50,000. During those three years, the bill permits a credit for all eligible small employers that provide insurance for their employees, and beginning in 2014, credits are available to employers purchasing employee coverage through health insurance exchanges. Nonprofits could take a credit in the initial period of 25 percent of the employer contribution and 35 percent in subsequent years, and apply the credit to taxes they withhold from payroll. Employees would still receive full credit for taxes withheld from their pay. For businesses, the credit is 35 percent initially and 50 percent in the proceeding years. The different values of the credit reportedly relate to efforts at cost containment (the nonprofit provision costs $2.1 billion over 10 years) and to reflect the differences in the frequency and likelihood of paying taxes between for-profit and nonprofit employers. [Source: Independent Sector]

Most of the larger provisions won't take effect for four years, so most of us won't see immediate changes. More details can be found on Laura Zabel's blog at Springboard for the Arts: http://www.springboardforthearts.org/blog/blog.asp.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal