Differing reports on how businesses, health law are interacting

Reuters reports that Health and Human Services data show the business community is a big winner as a result of the measure's early retiree program. But The Fiscal Times notes that some "corporate giants" are at odds with the overhaul.

Reuters: US Health Care Reform Helping Businesses
When President Barack Obama signed his health care overhaul into law a year ago, some U.S. companies were quick to flag — and write down — the millions of dollars they stood to lose as a result of one aspect of the measure. A year later, data from the Department of Health and Human Services shows the business community is one of the biggest beneficiaries of a separate provision of the overhaul, which provides billions of dollars in assistance to employers that maintain medical coverage for early retirees (Kelleher, 3/25).

The Fiscal Times: Corporate Giants At Odds With Health Care Law
[M]any companies have yet to come to terms with what the new [health] law will mean for their operating costs and bottom lines. Large firms flush with low-wage workers will get hit hard because their bare-bones, low-cost employee health insurance policies don't comply with the new law, which takes effect in 2014. These companies will have two choices: offer an unlimited insurance minimum, or reduce their workforces. So far this year, the Department of Health and Human Services has granted 1,040 waivers to companies, insurers and unions wanting to continue offering enrollees limited health-benefit or mini-med plans (Hirsch, 3/24).