What Health Care Reform Means for Your Business

Many of the provisions in the health-care bill passed by the House won't kick in until 2014 — and the final rules could still be changed by amendments that will now be considered by the Senate.

NEW YORK — The sweeping health-care bill passed by the House of Representatives Sunday, and now headed for President Obama's desk, promises a sea change in the way that small business owners purchase and provide health insurance for themselves and their employees.

But many of the provisions won't kick in until 2014 - and the final rules could still be changed by amendments that will now be considered by the Senate.

Thanks to the political maneuvering that followed the Democrats' loss of a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, the House passed two separate health care bills. The first was an exact duplicate of the one passed by the Senate in December, enabling the president to sign it into law as soon as this week.

The second, a package of diverseA amendments addressing elements of the Senate bill that the House wanted changed, will now be voted on in the Senate under "reconciliation" rules that require only a simple majority.

Click here for a CNN.Money report on how now-passed health reform law will impact business.

Source: CNNMoney