In ruling to uphold the Affordable Care Act on June 28, the Supreme Court made a mark on history -- a mark that signifies victory for the countless small business owners who've struggled with excessively high health insurance costs for decades.
Prior to the reform law's enactment, our health coverage market was unsustainable -- and for small business owners in particular. Now, more than two years since its passage, nationwide market reforms and other provisions of the Affordable Care Act are already benefiting small businesses and consumers alike. In so doing, they are reinventing what it means to purchase healthcare in America.
It's no news that lack of affordability is the main reason many small business owners don't offer health coverage to their employees. It's not that they don't want to provide it -- we know from our research they do. But unlike big businesses, small firms continue to face premium rates that are unpredictable in nearly every sense -- except for the guarantee that they will always increase.
That's why June 28 was a day for the small business history books. The Supreme Court ruling to uphold the Affordable Care Act protects a number of benefits that are helping offset small businesses' costs as they brave the tumultuous health coverage market. Provisions such as rate review and Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) have already resulted in lower premium costs and cash back for small employers. Millions of small businesses in 42 states will get rebates for part of their coverage costs in August because their insurers failed to spend 80 percent of their premium dollars on patient care and quality improvement as required by the MLR rule.
On top of that, the law's health insurance tax credits for small business owners with fewer than 25 full-time employees are helping hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs who offer coverage save money on their health care costs. With those savings, they are reinvesting in their businesses and even creating new jobs. Now that the law's fate is no longer up in the air, eligible small business owners can look forward to 2014 when the maximum amount of the tax credit increases from 35 percent of their premium costs to 50 percent.
At this point, the number of eligible small business owners taking advantage of the credit is not as high as it should be. Our recent opinion poll found more than half of all entrepreneurs do not know they exist, and another recent survey had similar results. With other small business advocates, we are working to inform more eligible small businesses about them.
Also coming in 2014 are the health insurance exchanges, which are required to be set up in every state. These will do even more to curb costs and boost choice for small businesses by giving them an online location to pool their buying power with other employers and negotiate better rates. Entrepreneurs are looking forward to these marketplaces, according to another recent poll of ours, which also found that only a third of small business owners wanted to see the high court overturn the Affordable Care Act.
But luckily for those who wanted to see the law upheld, it was. And it's time to look forward and implement it with small businesses' needs in mind. The moment President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, countless small firms -- from family-run farms in California's Central Valley to Greenwich Village cafés just getting off the ground -- began to see their hopes for more affordable healthcare become reality. Two-plus years later, we're now a step closer to giving these employers what they need. And it also means we're giving would-be entrepreneurs the chance to follow their dreams of owning a business, without worrying about how to get health insurance.
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Thanks,
Bob Linz, President
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So how is this a "...affirmation for small business" ...?
Has anyone ever wondered WHY the DOW is usually higher when a Democrat is in OFFICE? Maybe because they AID the BIG Business? Where do you think the Unions invest in? Yep, the stock market.
What is a big investment? OIL? but that is the evil right business. Is it? A list of people that profited off of Oil or oil stocks. Nancy Polosie, Al Gore, Barack Obama, teachers retirement associations, (I am a former teacher) Don't take my word. I'm just a Minority that is tired of Political lie's. Research for yourself. Politicians keep us separated from each other so we are weaker on them. To keep us down doing their laundry.
Welfare is slavery.
They have barely started....and they are now officially at 127,000 pages of regulations to administer the program. It is estimated that by the time they are through.....there will be a total of 1.5 MILLION pages of regulations............NONE written by an elected official.
This is suicide.
We are the government in this country. If you want better government -- and I do -- than get involved with it and try offering a comment that's truly based in reality rather than your made up sarcastic version.
You know, speaking of economics and the U.S. I was reading an account this morning of how the Governor of Michigan in 2003 put together a package to offer a refrigerator manufactuer in a small town of 8,000 people that employed about 2700 people. I think it was Electrolux. After considering the Governor's plan, the company supposedly thanked, the governor, said it was the most generous plan they'd seen, but it just couldn't compete with paying one dollar and fifty-seven cents an hour per worker, so they moved the plant to Mexico.
I have nothing against the people of Mexico getting jobs so they can remain in their own country and even, who knows, raising their standard of living. That's capitalism, right? But that's not the capitalism of the U.S. that I know and respected. And those company owners, who had good times and bad in the U.S. who decided to bring their business to another country, well, their not my business/capitalism heros. They put profit before country as far as I'm concerned.
It's also worth noting that Obmacare will actually reduce the paperwork burden for health care providers. There will be one common electronic form for billing instead of the separate forms, rules and procedures now used by each separate insurance company.
NO, not worth noting, this has been going on for years.
Just because I sell it, does not mean I do not understand it.
I am suprised we are not hearing more from them.
http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/who-is-the-small-business-majority/