The new law seeks to limit those kinds of increases, while giving businesses incentives to cover more workers.
Here’s how:
• Businesses with fewer than 25 employees that pay an average of no more than $40,000 will get a tax credit – up to 35 percent of the company’s share of their total health care premium.
• Companies with 26-49 workers are unaffected.
• Businesses with 50 or more workers must offer coverage or pay $750 per worker. That penalty applies for every employee if even one signs up for government-subsidized insurance.
But there are potential problems. Case in point: It would be much cheaper for Dick Bus to drop the generous coverage he now offers and take the hit at $750 a head for his 120 workers. The penalty would be $90,000 a year. He’s currently spending $480,000.
Bus would save $390,000, but canceling his plan would force his workers to the health plan exchange and could cost more than they’re paying now. The Senate is considering an increase in the $750 penalty to prevent that scenario.
The law’s benefits are clearer for Fank Hesch and the four employees at his auto shop. He provides insurance for two, and pays $4,800 a year. Under the new law, he would get a tax credit of $1,680 and he says he would roll the money into health insurance for new workers as his business grows.
At the Lehigh Valley Zoo, CEO Rick Molchany pays $189,000 to insure 21 workers.
“Our health care is in excess of 10 percent of our annual operating expense,” he said.
As a non-profit, the zoo gets a smaller credit for insurance than other businesses. The savings – about $9,000.
When you add it all up, most small businesses could save up to 4 percent on what they pay for employee health insurance.
Nationally, that savings could exceed $10 billion. 
(Read more from cbsnews.com)