What happens now?

Health care reform 2009 has run into some notable road blocks in Washington. By design, our intent is to not be too political here--but more of an overview of what we see going on.

In short, the Republicans and conservative Democrats are concerned about the expansive role of reform--both in cost and structure. Interestingly, what no one seems to deny is that our system is quite damaged and may be beyond repair. However, as they try to sort out payments to physicians, tax on the wealthy and creation of a public plan for those who have no other choices--politics begans to take hold.

What is the expected outcome today? We are expecting a watered-down healthcare bill. Long -noted agreement on 80 percent of health reform could be the end result by years' end. In the interim expect lots of advertising on television, radio, etc on both sides of the debate.

For you as an employer, all of this still means more administrative effort, more complexity in assisting your employees. An employer mandate, minimum benefit standards and limited underwriting can certainly be enacted. Interestingly, it is far easier to tweak the existing insurance structure and still not really solve the underlying problem--which is not the cost of insurance, but the cost of health care. Unfortunately, reform (whatever form) probably means still higher insurance cost.