It's too soon to know whether President Barack Obama's healthcare reform proposal released Monday will gain traction, said Ed Lenz, senior VP of public affairs and general counsel of the American Staffing Association.

"I think it's a little premature to be making any predictions or assumptions about whether the president's proposal will find its way into legislation much less passed and signed into law," Lenz said Monday. "The president is obviously trying to rekindle the debate on healthcare."

Healthcare reform had almost dropped off the radar after Massachusetts voters elected Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate, Lenz said.

The president's proposal released Monday appears similar to the healthcare reform proposal approved by the Senate, Lenz said. However, companies not providing health insurance would have to pay a higher fee assuming the same language as in the Senate bill. Employers who don't provide health insurance could face a fee of $750 per full-time employee per year under the Senate bill; Obama's proposal calls for a fee of $2,000.

The Senate's bill would be pro-rated per month for a fee of $62.50 for an employee who worked more than 30 hours in a month and whose employer didn't offer health insurance -- the Senate bill would kick in for business with more than 50 employees with at least one worker receiving a tax subsidy to buy health insurance. Under the president's proposal, that monthly fee would be $166.67 assuming the same language as the Senate bill.

The president's proposal includes a 90-day waiting period for auto enrollment of workers into a company's health plan. However, Lenz said that 90-day period would not apply to most staffing firms that don't offer health plans to their temporary workers.

Obama scheduled a bipartisan meeting for Thursday to discuss healthcare reform.

Lenz said the proposed increase in fee in the president's proposal is "certainly not calculated to improve the view of the legislation by the business community."

Lenz said the ASA is supportive of healthcare reform as long it's done the right way with a focus on containing costs and not imposing new costs on employers.