Health Care Reform and the Building Industry #AREFchat

Here I finally thought that I came up with a topic for #AREFchat that everyone would want to talk about and would ignite so much participation. The health care reform legislation is only the most debated law in my lifetime and the most significant piece of legislation in about 40 years. Everyone has to have an opinion and something they want to say about it, right? The good news is that yes, everyone does have an opinion, but they did not want to voice it on a public Twitter forum.  So, instead of discussing the impact that the health care reform will have on the economy, we focused the conversation specifically on how it impacts the building industry. Seasoned real estate agents @KBMRG and @PhxREguy participated in this mornings chat.

The health care reform requires all business with over 50 employees to provide health insurance which makes it sound like it would have little impact on the small builder.  However, presently there is a clause in the bill that states construction companies with more than 5 employees must provide their employees with health insurance. The industry was completely singled out since across the board companies that are under 50 employees are considered small business and exempt from the mandate. Well, these construction-industry-only regulations could jeopardize the financial security of many local, small builders, making it even more challenging than it already is for small builders to succeed in the housing market.

We would also like to thank @SCatherinew and @TheKenCook for their participation in this morning’s discussion as well.

To chime in on these heated debates, set yourself a reminder to be on Twitter every Wednesday morning at 10:00 EST. If you have a topic you would like to discuss, let us know what it is!