Health Care bill causes big changes in Restaurant Industry

As President Barack Obama prepares to sign a sweeping health care reform bill into law, the foodservice industry faces changes of historic proportion.

In addition to requiring many restaurant operators to contribute to health care coverage for their employees, the newly passed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act also makes menu labeling the law of the land.

The bill, HR 3590, which is expected to expand health insurance coverage to most Americans by 2014, was passed Sunday night in the U.S. House of Representatives by a narrow margin of 219 to 212. Obama has said he will sign it into law Tuesday.

"The National Restaurant Association opposed the bill that passed the House because it includes provisions that will impose tremendous burdens on America's restaurants and hurt our industry's ability to create and sustain jobs,"said Scott DeFife, the NRA's executive vice president of policy and government affairs.