For decades small business owners have been telling anyone who would listen that they need health care reforms that lower costs. But President Obama and his allies in Congress pushed through a law that will dramatically raise health care costs and increase the overall cost of doing business.
Whats more the federal mandate requiring that nearly all U.S. residents carry health insurance by 2014 seriously threatens our basic constitutional rights and individual freedoms says Dan Danner president and CEO of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).
This is why the NFIB on behalf of small business owners nationwide has joined the lawsuit with 20 states mounting a constitutional challenge to this devastating new health care law. This law is death by a thousand cuts for small business owners
says Danner:
- According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) the overhaul will cost about $115 billion more than first projected bringing the total to more than $1 trillion.
- Small businesses will also now have to deal with an onslaught of new taxes and burdensome paperwork.
Supporters say the law will significantly help small businesses focusing on the much talked about small business tax credit.
But the reality is that the tax credit is complex and very limited because firms qualify based on number of employees and average wages explains Danner:
- The credit which is only available for a maximum of six years puts small business owners through a series of complicated tests to determine if they qualify and how much they will receive.
- Fewer than one-third of small businesses even pass the first three (of four) tests to qualify: have 25 employees or less provide health insurance and pay 50 percent of the cost of that insurance.
- More importantly the credit is temporary but health care cost increases are permanent; when the credit ends small businesses will be left paying full price.
- Theyll also be forced to deal with all sorts of new taxes fees and mandates buried in this 2000-page law.
Source: Dan Danner
ObamaCare vs. Small Business Wall Street Journal May 27 2010.
