Get Ready for Surgery

The debate may be dragging on forever, but businesses should get ready for health care reform.

Health care reform cleared a major hurdle in the Senate November 21, but this long legislative battle might not end until next year.

Businesses might be tired of all the twists and turns the legislation has taken and tempted to just wait for the final verdict before figuring out how they would be affected.

But that would be “a dangerous thing,” said Ken Huber, senior vice president of the employee benefits group for PSA Insurance & Financial Services in Baltimore.

There are important differences between the bill that passed the House and the version that will be debated by the Senate after Thanksgiving. Huber, whose company provides employee-benefits brokerage and consulting services to small and medium-sized businesses, said business owners need to look at these two bills and let members of Congress know what they think.