Back-Breaking Medicine

REVIEW SUMMARY
What. Many businesses brace for bad effects from federal health care law.
Issue. Disincentives for businesses to hire full time workers and increase pay.
Impact. Higher taxes, increased overhead costs and more paperwork stifle economic recovery.

Health care reform's biggest impacts may be a few years away, but some Gulf Coast businesses are already trying to make sense of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 — and prepare for the days of reckoning ahead.

The 2,400-page act requires employers to provide health insurance for employees. Companies with more than 50 employees that do not offer coverage, and have at least one full-time employee receiving a tax credit for premiums paid, will pay a $2,000 fine per employee excluding the first 30. Businesses will pay $3,000 per employee receiving the premium tax subsidy.