by Michael McBurnie
CEO, MyTherapyCompany

I have been following the health care debate closely and recently took a close look at the pros and cons for our company. For anyone that has insurance through myTherapyCompany there will only be a few changes, and they all appear very positive. Here are some of the items we see as being very beneficial to both us as a company and to our employees.

• Establishes a small business health care tax credit to help small businesses afford the cost of covering their workers
• Creates health insurance exchanges to increase bargaining power and reduce administrative costs
• Ends price discrimination against small businesses with sick workers
• Reduces premiums in the small group market
• Bans insurance companies from dropping people from coverage when they get sick – effective 6 months after enactment
• Increases the number of primary care practitioners
• Bans annual and lifetime caps on coverage
• Allows your children to be on your plan until age 26
• New therapists will not have to worry about pre-existing conditions for themselves or their families
• Some preventative measures not currently covered by insurance would be covered under the new law

Businesses that may be eligible for the tax credits will receive letters from the government in the coming weeks, another step in the administration’s efforts to tout the benefits of the health care overhaul.

The best part of the plan for MyTherapyCompany is that starting in 2014, companies with up to 100 employees will be able to buy insurance through new state-based purchasing pools, or exchanges, with the goal of giving small businesses the same kind of purchasing power as larger companies.

Twenty-two million self-employed Americans will also be able to purchase insurance through the exchanges. As we face increased premiums each year and struggle to keep paying for this without passing on the extra costs to therapists, this will be a welcome relief. I only wish it would start sooner as I know we will face continued increases in costs until that time.

Overall, the 10-year, nearly $1 trillion plan President Obama signed into law last week will extend coverage to 32 million peoplew ho are currently uninsured andwill shape howalmost every American receives and pays for medical treatment.

The law doesn’t require businesses to offer insurance, but hits employers with 50 or more workers with an annual fee if the companies don’t insure them since the government will end up subsidizing workers’ coverage. Those fines have troubled critics of the overhaul who argue that the increased costs could bankrupt companies trying to recover from the recession.

From running a company that has always provided insurance, I don’t share that belief. I only face possible relief from increasing health care costs with the new Federal Health Care Plan just signed into law.