Small business health care bill heads to Senate floor

A state Senate bill is heading to the Senate floor for debate on whether to allow small-business employers to offer an association health-insurance plan, or AHP, that could provide lower premium costs.Senate Bill 86 would loosen the requirements for AHPs in North Carolina in response to federal Labor Department changes made in June by the Trump administration.The bill cleared the Senate Rules and Operations committee Tuesday after gaining recommendations earlier from the Health, and Commerce and Insurance committees.Co-sponsor Sen. Joyce Krawiec, R-Forsyth, has said up to 110,000 North Carolina small-business employees could benefit from the legislative change. Krawiec said the bill could be heard as early as today. The legislation piggybacks on previous bills, such as permitting a grouping of employers in the same trade, industry or line of business in an AHP. Employers with up to 50 workers could qualify.