Administration touts health care tax credits for small businesses

White House officials on Thursday highlighted a budget proposal to spend $14 billion over a decade to expand a health care tax credit for small businesses, a move they say would benefit about 4 million workers this year.

The Hill: Administration Highlights Business Health Care Tax Credits In Obama Budget
President Obama's proposed budget would expand the health law's health care tax credits by about $14 billion over a decade, the administration highlighted Thursday. Under the law, companies with 25 or fewer workers that pay for at least half of employees' healthcare coverage can claim progressively higher tax credits (up to 50 percent starting in 2014). The president's budget would increase the size of eligible companies to those with 50 or fewer workers, make it more generous and make it easier to claim (Pecquet, 2/16).

Modern Healthcare: White House Pushes Healthcare Tax Credit
The White House hopes more small-business owners would take advantage of its expanded $14 billion healthcare tax credit plan outlined in President Barack Obama's fiscal 2013 budget proposal by better publicizing the incentives and simplifying the application process. The proposal increases the number of businesses eligible for the tax credits, allowing firms with 50 or fewer employees to qualify (Selvam, 2/16).

CQ HealthBeat: Administration Officials Campaign To Raise Awareness Of Health Care Tax Credit
White House officials on Thursday highlighted a fiscal 2013 budget proposal to spend $14 billion over a decade to expand a health care tax credit for small businesses, a move they say would benefit about 4 million workers this year. The proposal would simplify and build on a credit that was part of the 2010 health care law. In 2011, about 360,000 of the estimated 6 million small business employers in the United States are expected to benefit from the existing tax credit. That means about 2 million workers will be helped to get insurance, Karen Mills, head of the Small Business Administration, and Small Business Majority CEO John Arensmeyer noted on a phone call with reporters (Adams, 2/16).

Obama's proposed budget would also reduce reimbursements for advanced imaging tests.

Medscape: Imaging Reimbursement Reduced in Proposed Federal Budget
The Obama administration debuted its proposed budget earlier this week, and part of the plan calls for cuts in Medicare reimbursement for advanced imaging tests. The proposal has been met with a blistering attack from the American College of Radiology (ACR). ... [one provision] would require physicians to get prior authorization before ordering expensive tests. The Medicare prior authorization program would be more or less modeled after programs that private insurers have increasingly plugged into their plans in recent years (Fox, 2/16).