the bill with Dave
Jones
(D-Sacramento).
"People are really
hurting," said
Fletcher, who is
also vice chairman
of the Assembly
health committee.
The deadline to send
notices to people
eligible for the
subsidy is April 18.
But first, the state
would have to pass
the bipartisan
measure amending
current law
governing the
Cal-COBRA program.
Cal-COBRA allows
laid-off employees
at very small
businesses to
continue their group
health insurance as
long as they pay the
full premium.
"More than 116,000
Californians lost
their jobs in
February, and with
that, many of them
lost their health
insurance,"
Insurance
Commissioner Steve
Poizner said in a
statement last week
supporting the bill.
Laid-off employees
of businesses with
20 or more workers
don't need the state
law changed to
access the subsidy:
Businesses of that
size fall under the
federal COBRA
program. Those
businesses will have
to handle the
notification process
themselves, track
down laid-off
employees and front
the 65% subsidy to
their insurance
companies until they
are repaid through
quarterly payroll
tax credits.
"This whole
notification thing
-- putting out the
multiple forms and
having to select the
right one to send to
employees -- for a
small business, that
is going to drive
them crazy," said
Scott Hauge, owner
of CAL Insurance &
Associates in San
Francisco and
president of the
Small Business
California trade
group.
The federal stimulus
bill also gives
eligible workers a
second chance to
sign up for state
and federal COBRA
coverage. Those
people may have
initially rejected
post-layoff coverage
or signed up but
later stopped their
participation.
The Assembly bill
was sponsored by the
California
Department of
Insurance, which
said a change in
state law was needed
for people eligible
for Cal-COBRA to
qualify for the
federal subsidy. The
bill was introduced
last week, passed
the Assembly
healthcare committee
and is headed for
the appropriations
committee.
Workers aren't
eligible for the
subsidy if they
reach the end of
their maximum COBRA
coverage period or
if they become
eligible for
Medicare or another
group health plan at
a new job or through
their spouse's
employer, for
example.
More information for
employers and
employees, including
a free webcast
discussing the
provisions for
employers who have
to comply with the
federal COBRA, is
available at the
U.S. Department of
Labor's website,
www.dol.gov.
Small-business
confidence is up
Economic
confidence among
owners of the
nation's smallest
businesses was up
more in March than
in any of the
previous eight
months, according to
the Discover Small
Business Watch.
The monthly index
rose 6.3 points to
78.2 this month from
71.9 in February as
fewer firms said the
economy was getting
worse and more saw
conditions for their
own businesses
improving.
The national random
survey of 1,000
small-business
owners with fewer
than five employees
is done by Rasmussen
Reports and paid for
by Discover
Financial Services.
The base value was
established at 100
based on the Watch's
first surveys in
August 2006. The
margin of error is
3.2 percentage
points with a 95%
confidence in the
results.
In March, the number
of small-business
owners who said the
economy was getting
worse dropped to 60%
from 69% in February
and 79% in June.
Nine out of 10
owners still rated
the economy as fair
or poor, unchanged
from February. The
portion who saw the
economy getting
better rose to 16%
in March from 12% in
February.
Workers' comp
rate hike possible
California
businesses may face
a double-digit hike
in the price of
their workers'
compensation
insurance premiums
this summer.
After several years
of declining, flat
or modestly higher
premiums, a 24.4%
increase was
recommended recently
by the board of
governors of the
state's Workers'
Compensation
Insurance Rating
Bureau Actuarial
Committee.
It's now up to
Poizner, a
Republican who wants
to be the next
governor. Insurance
companies can set
their own rates but
are supposed to be
guided by the
recommendations.
smallbiz@latimes.com
