Will the health care reform bill help or hurt small business, Dina?

Nevada Democratic Rep. Dina Titus now says she supports the 1,900-page health care reform monstrosity because it "takes important steps to make health insurance more affordable and accessible."

Maybe she should read Sally Pipes' op-ed piece in today Investor's Business Daily. She points to the Well-Point study reported in this past Sunday's Review-Journal that "concluded that 70% of small businesses would experience higher health insurance premiums if the Democrats' health plan passes."

The guaranteed no-pre-existing-condition provision, she notes, has tripled premiums in states that have tried it.

Pipes also notes that standardized coverage can raise rates.

But over in The Wall Street Journal, Betsy McCaughey points out that we don't even know what those standards will be. In 1,900 pages they could not find room to spell that out.

McCaughey, a former lieutenant governor of New York, writes: "Sec. 224 (p. 118) provides that 18 months after the bill becomes law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will decide what a 'qualified plan' covers and how much you'll be legally required to pay for it. That's like a banker telling you to sign the loan agreement now, then filling in the interest rate and repayment terms 18 months later."

So Titus, left, Rep. Shelley Berkley and Sen. Harry Reid are buying us a pig in a poke. They don't know what it will require.

Now here's a provision that seems a tab discriminatory to me. Our WSJ writer says that when you file your income tax return, you must include proof that you are in a qualified insurance plan. "If not, you will be fined thousands of dollars. Illegal immigrants are exempt from this requirement."

Medicare recipients will love this little gem. Not only does the bill cut the Medicare Advantage program, but it puts Medicare patients in something called a "medical home." The bill specifies, McCaughey says, patients get a nurse practitioner instead of a doctor as primary-care provider.

 If you like ACORN, you'll love the goodies being provided to some of Obama's buddies.

The bill on page 1,422 grants money for "documented community activity and experience with community healthcare workers" to "educate, guide, and provide experiential learning opportunities ... Each community health worker program receiving funds under the grant will provide services in the cultural context most appropriate for the individual served by the program." This includes transportation and translation services. No co-pays for translators.

The bill also gives preference to "programs that provide for improving the diversity of new nurse graduates to reflect changes in the demographics of the patient population."

Pipes concludes: "Managers would likely compensate for these new costs by discontinuing health benefits, cutting wages, holding off on new hires or even laying off workers. Can the Democrats' efforts really be called 'reform' if they'd leave workers and businesses alike worse off?

"The administration has dismissed accounts critical of its health reform plan out of hand. But the facts don't lie. The Democrats' reform package will make health insurance more expensive for small firms."

If you thought the stimulus package would keep joblessness under 8 percent, wait till you see what health care reform does.