By Justin Carinci While a requirement in the new health care reform law for employers to provide health insurance won’t apply to most contractors, the largest companies will have to provide insurance for their employees. And they’ll be bidding on some projects against companies who don’t have to.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., had attached an amendment to the bill that would have required contractors with five or more employees and payrolls of more than $250,000 to provide health coverage. That amendment didn’t survive the reconciliation process between Senate and House versions of the bill.
As it stands, only companies with 50 or more employees will have to provide insurance. That applies mostly to the largest contractors.
“Going from five to 50 is going to affect a certain amount of companies,” said John Ward, president of
R&H Construction, which has more than 50 salaried employees. “I think it’s really hard to tell what the effects will be until we understand what the whole bill does.”
R&H already provides benefits for its employees, Ward said, as do most of its competitors. “If they’re a company that chooses to provide health care benefits, we’re already competing on the same playing field,” he said.
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