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Healthcare Reform Update
December 28, 2009
**Healthcare Reform Update **
On Thursday, December 24, 2009, the Senate passed H.R. 3950, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 60-39.
The bill contains three of our five key priorities including a part-time worker exemption, a small business exemption for those with fewer than 50 full-time employees, and it protects the ERISA framework for large, multi-state employers.
In addition, progress was made on two additional priorities, although more adjustments to these provisions are being sought:
The bill contains three of our five key priorities including a part-time worker exemption, a small business exemption for those with fewer than 50 full-time employees, and it protects the ERISA framework for large, multi-state employers.
In addition, progress was made on two additional priorities, although more adjustments to these provisions are being sought:
- The penalty free waiting period was set at 30-days in the original Senate bill, but amended to 60-days in the Senate-passed bill. We will continue to push for the desired 90-day waiting period.
- The definition of full-time employee was modified in the Senate-passed version as “with respect to any month, an employee who is employed on average at 30 hours of service per week.” We will continue to push for the definition as 390 hours/calendar quarter (13 weeks) that takes into account the fluctuations in scheduling and operational realities of administering such a definition.
The National Restaurant Association continues to update the website www.RestaurantHealthCareReformInfo.com with additional resources. A summary of the Senate-passed bill will be available shortly and updated grassroots tools have been posted. This includes a new letter that is now available through the “Write your Congressman” section of the website that expresses the importance of maintaining the three provisions we obtained, and to push for the other two. Right now, following the Senate vote is a critical time to be communicating with your members of Congress while they are home on recess. Your help is needed to continue to put pressure on Congress to maintain and achieve our five key priorities!
Informal conference discussions will likely begin between the Democratic leadership of both chambers right after the Christmas holiday. The House returns from recess on January 12th and the Senate January 18th. Once a final bill agreement has been reached, both chambers will vote on the measure before sending the legislation to the President for signature. To pass the final bill the Senate will have to achieve the 60 vote threshold on the procedural vote, before a simple majority is needed for passage of the bill.
