Mandated health insurance on the way?

The Senate.Image via Wikipedia

According to an article on BusinessInsurance.com, the Senate is putting together a bill that would mandate health coverage to be provided for employees for all business' except for "small" firms. The small firms would be those with 25 or fewer employees. In the latest health care reform proposal, firms would be required to pay 60% of their employees health premiums or be assessed annually $750.00 for each full time employee not covered and $375.00 for each part time employee not covered. Another bill be worked on would require employers to pay for employees health coverage or be assessed 8% of each employees pay for those not enrolled in health care coverage. This bill also exempts small firms but doesn't specifically state what a "small" firm is. Sounds like the run up to government run health care. Has the private sector messed it up that much that health care now needs to be run by the government? Another question is, can the government efficiently run health care? Lastly, what will this do to business' that will be mandated to provide the coverage or face the penalties these bills refer to? With the way the economy is lately I'm not sure that this won't prevent more workers from being added to the increasingly swelling unemployment rolls. Business are created, after all, to make a profit for those that create the business.
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