Small Businesses Hope for Change from ObamaCare’s Burden

June 26, 2012

A Supreme Court Decision to Overturn ObamaCare Could Provide a Needed Jolt to Small Business Job Creators

Small business job creators are especially hopeful that a Supreme Court decision that overturns ObamaCare will provide a jolt to their businesses.
The fact is that ObamaCare’s burdensome regulations on small businesses have hurt hiring and reduced small businesses’ ability to provide coverage for their employees.
That hasn’t stopped Democrats from repeatedly going to bat for their healthcare disaster, including for some of the worst provisions that directly harm small businesses and send jobs overseas.

Small business job creators are especially hopeful that a Supreme Court decision that overturns ObamaCare will provide a jolt to their businesses:

ANALYSTS: “POSITIVE” FOR SMALL BUSINESS IF OBAMACARE IS OVERTURNED: (Patti Domm, “Health-Care Ruling May Be Catalyst for Stocks,” CNBC, 6/22/2012)

MORE: OBAMACARE “HAD A DAMPENING EFFECT ON SMALL BUSINESS HIRING AND SMALL BUSINESS CONFIDENCE”: ” ‘The initial reaction (if overturned) will be that this is positive because it had a dampening effect on small business hiring and small business confidence,’ said Barry Knapp, head of equity portfolio strategy at Barclays Capital.” (Patti Domm, “Health-Care Ruling May Be Catalyst for Stocks,” CNBC, 6/22/2012)

The fact is that ObamaCare’s burdensome regulations on small businesses have hurt hiring and reduced small businesses’ ability to provide coverage for their employees:

73% OF SMALL BUSINESS JOB CREATORS CITE OBAMACARE AS AN “OBSTACLE TO HIRING NEW WORKERS”: (Peter Schroeder, “Survey: Uncertainty, Gas Prices Slowing Hiring by Small Business,” The Hill, 4/16/2012)

NFIB STUDY: 150K SMALL BUSINESS JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY OBAMACARE’S HEALTH INSURANCE TAX: (“NFIB Research Foundation Study: Health Insurance Tax to Cost 125,000 to 249,000 Private-Sector Jobs,” NFIB, 11/9/2011)

56% OF SMALLEST BUSINESSES SAY HEALTHCARE WOULD BE MORE EXPENSIVE UNDER OBAMACARE RELATIVE TO WHAT THEY PAY NOW:(“Access to Health Coverage and Attitudes on Health Reform: A Self-Employed Perspective,”National Association for the Self-Employed, June 2012)

SMALLEST BUSINESSES SAY THEY ARE UNLIKELY TO OFFER COVERAGE FOR EMPLOYEES: “[T]he self-employed will be required to purchase both more expansive and more expensive coverage. Even if the health care reform law does indeed lower coverage costs, over 65 percent of self-employed and micro-business owners are unlikely or unsure if they will be able to provide and pay for a portion of health coverage for their employees in the future.”(Kristie Arslan, “Skyrocketing Health Care Costs Hurt Businesses, Families and the Bottom Line,” Huffington Post, 6/13/2012)

57% OF SMALL BUSINESSES ARE “VERY” OR “SOMEWHAT” LIKELY TO DROP HEALTH COVERAGE FOR WORKERS: “Should employees begin to leave for an exchange, 26 percent of currently offering small employers are very likely to explore dropping their health insurance plans and another 31 percent are somewhat likely to do so.” (“Small Business and Health Insurance: One Year After Enactment of PPACA,” NFIB, 5/24/2012)

1 IN 8 SMALL BUSINESSES HAVE ALREADY SEEN THEIR HEALTH COVERAGE TERMINATED DUE TO OBAMACARE: “One in eight small businesses told the National Federation of Independent Business that since the health law passed in 2010, their health insurer had either terminated their plan or notified them it is going to be eliminated. … Dennis said the NFIB was ‘not aware of any data that suggested’ insurers had dropped coverage of small businesses in such large numbers in years before the passage of the health law. For this reason, they felt confident the health law was the cause, he said.” (Bara Vaida, “Some Small Businesses Say Health Insurers Are Dropping Their Coverage,” Kaiser Health News, 7/25/2011)

That hasn’t stopped Democrats from repeatedly going to bat for their healthcare disaster, including for some of the worst provisions that directly harm small businesses and send jobs overseas:

77% OF HOUSE DEMOCRATS VOTED AGAINST REPEALING THE HEART ATTACK TAX: (Roll Call 361, Clerk of the U.S. House, 6/7/2012)

WHITE HOUSE THREATENS TO VETO HEART ATTACK TAX REPEAL: “White House officials threatened a veto Wednesday of a Republican bill that would repeal a tax on the makers of many medical devices sold in the U.S., in the latest partisan clash over President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.”(Alan Fram, “White House Veto Threat on Medical Device Tax,” Associated Press, 6/6/2012)

NEW STUDY: AT LEAST 14,500 JOBS OR AS MANY AS 47,000 JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY OBAMACARE’S HEART ATTACK TAX: (Michael Ramlet, Robert Book and Han Zhong, “The Economic Impact of the Medical Device Tax,” American Action Forum, 6/4/2012)

13,303 SMALL- TO MEDIUM-SIZE MEDICAL DEVICE FIRMS IN U.S., OR 91% OF ALL MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANIES COULD BE AFFECTED: (Michael Ramlet, Robert Book and Han Zhong, “The Economic Impact of the Medical Device Tax,” American Action Forum, 6/4/2012)

HEALTHCARE LEADERSHIP COUNCIL: 43,000 MEDICAL DEVICE INDUSTRY WORKERS COULD BE LAID OFF BY TAX HIKE: “Under reasonable assumptions, the tax could result in job losses in excess of 43,000 and employment compensation losses in excess of $3.5 billion.” (“Employment Effects of the New Excise Tax on the Medical Device Industry,” Healthcare Leadership Council, September 2011)

MEDICAL INDUSTRY STUDY PREDICTS 39,000 JOBS LOST: “A $3 billion hit on the medical device industry — roughly the effect of the healthcare reform law’s industry tax — would cost nearly 39,000 jobs and more than $8 billion in economic output, according to a new report released Monday by the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed).” (Julian Pecquet, “Medical Device Makers Decry Cost of Tax,” The Hill, 3/26/2012)

SEVERAL MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANIES ARE ALREADY OUTSOURCING JOBS AND LAYING OFF WORKERS: “Cook Medical is no longer planning to open a U.S. factory a year. Boston Scientific, planning for a more than $100 million charge against earnings in 2013, recently built a $35 million research and development facility in Ireland and is building a $150 million factory in China. (Capital goes where it is welcome and stays where it is well-treated.) Stryker Corp., based in Michigan, blames the tax for 1,000 layoffs. Zimmer, based in Indiana, is laying off 450 and taking a $50 million charge against earnings. Medtronic expects an annual charge against earnings of $175 million.” (George Will, “Taxing Jobs Out of Existence,” The Washington Post, 5/9/2012)