Business Group Criticizes Health Care Action in House

The attempt by Republicans in the House of Representatives yesterday to repeal the new health care act (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) is a direct smack in the face of small businesses, according to CEO John Arensmeyer of the Small Business Majority, an advocacy group.

During the Bush Administration, small business took a beating from people in control who favored mega-corporations (funneling money from the SBA to them, for example). Many of the Obama Administration's initiatives are small business-friendly and Republicans are scrambling to counter that image.

Many Republicans recently ran on a platform based on repeal of the health care act, whether or not that was a real possibility with this congress (it is not because the Senate won’t have anything to do with it and the president would veto, it in any event), but Arensmeyer says the vote “is political posturing that will do nothing to create jobs and help small businesses thrive. In fact, it will do the opposite.”

He says repeal would send “America’s 28 million small businesses back into a system that drains their coffers and threatens their ability to compete. We released an analysis that shows that without reform small business owners would pay nearly $2.4 trillion in healthcare costs over the next 10 years, and $52.1 billion in small business profits and 178,000 small business jobs would be lost as a result of high premiums … The ACA will lower small business owners’ costs and help them and their employees gain access to high-quality healthcare.

"According to a national opinion survey we released on Jan. 4, one-third of small employers who don’t offer their workers insurance say the tax credits and exchanges will make them more likely to do so. Major insurance companies across the country are reporting significant increases in the number of small businesses providing their employees with benefits because of the tax credits.”

(Graphic from Small Business Trends.)