August 20, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
For nonprofit employees, the Washington debate about health care could mean changes in how they receive and pay for medical services.
While there are competing proposals in Congress, the two bills that have made headway in the Senate and the House of Representatives have some common ideas.
They include prohibiting health-insurance companies from rejecting people based on pre-existing conditions; requiring individuals to purchase insurance; requiring employers to pay some portion of family premiums; and providing subsidies to help low-income people buy insurance.
In all, the proposals seek to rein in health-care costs and make care more affordable for both employers and their workers, says John H. Graham, chief executive of the American Society of Association Executives, in Washington.
Like businesses, nonprofit groups have faced a steady increase in their health expenses in recent years.
In 2005, the latest year for which data are available, the nation’s charities and foundations paid more than $48-billion for health-care coverage and benefits, more than 4.6 percent of their expenditures, says Independent Sector, a nonprofit association with headquarters in Washington.
According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies, health-benefit expenses for most charities grew by at least 11 percent in 2004. Those costs are often then passed on to employees, the center says.
As the cost of care rises, Independent Sector says, nonprofit groups, especially small ones, face the difficult choice of either cutting benefits or laying off workers.
Nonprofit Issues
While the country grapples with the big issues surrounding health care, there are a few issues that may specifically affect nonprofit groups.
Independent Sector, which represents about 560 nonprofit organizations, is pushing members of Congress to clarify provisions meant to help small employers. For example, a House bill would give tax credits to small businesses to help them provide health coverage to their employees. As tax-exempt organizations, charities and foundations would receive no benefit from the credits.
The association is asking lawmakers to consider a Senate plan that would provide subsidies to small employers instead.
Mr. Graham of the American Society of Association Executives says his organization is asking Congress to allow a group of charities — food banks in Florida, say — to pool their resources to pay for health insurance.
Federal regulations allow such sharing of costs by large nonprofit networks, like United Ways, he says, but restrict it for charities that are more loosely affiliated.
Mr. Graham says he expects bipartisan support for the idea in Congress.
