Treasury reaching out to small business on health care

Geithner sent a letter detailing how the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit would aid small businesses who want to cover their employees, according to a post on Treasury’s blog.

“As you know, many small businesses want to provide health coverage to their workers but face extraordinary challenges in doing so, including premiums that are 18 percent higher on average than the premiums large businesses pay for the same coverage,” Geithner wrote in the letter. “And many of those small businesses that already provide insurance find it increasingly difficult to afford as costs have risen.”

According to Geithner’s letter, as many as 4 million small businesses may be eligible for the credit. The credit, which is generally available to businesses with less than 25 full-time employees, covered 35 percent of a business’s healthcare premiums in 2010 and will take care of 50 percent starting in 2014. 

The letter comes as Democrats say they are reaching out to find ways to improve the healthcare law, with President Obama also scheduled to discuss the issue at a Families USA conference on Friday morning. The GOP-led House has already voted to repeal the healthcare overhaul, but Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has vowed to block any similar effort in his chamber.