Dems Don’t Care That ObamaCare Burdens Small Biz

May 25, 2012

Growing Evidence Shows ObamaCare’s Taxes and Regulations Causing Misery for Small Businesses, But Democrats Refuse to Repeal Their Healthcare Disaster

The evidence is growing that ObamaCare’s many tax hikes will hurt the ability of small businesses to create new jobs and will destroy existing jobs.
ObamaCare’s other provisions may also make it difficult for small businesses to continue offering health coverage to their employees.
Despite these hard facts, Democrats continue to oppose repealing ObamaCare and continue defending their job-destroying government healthcare takeover that is making healthcare less secure.

The evidence is growing that ObamaCare’s many tax hikes will hurt the ability of small businesses to create new jobs and will destroy existing jobs:

NFIB STUDY: 250K JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY OBAMACARE’S HEALTH INSURANCE TAX, AND 150K OF THOSE COULD BE FROM SMALL BUSINESS:(“NFIB Research Foundation Study: Health Insurance Tax to Cost 125,000 to 249,000 Private-Sector Jobs,” NFIB, 11/9/2011)

SOME MEDICAL DEVICE MAKERS, INCLUDING SMALL BUSINESSES, “HAVE ALREADY ANNOUNCED LAYOFFS AHEAD OF THE TAX”: (Susan Kelly, “Medical Device Tax May Spur Price Hikes, Cost Cuts,” Reuters, 4/18/2012)

61% OF MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANIES EXPECT TAX TO HURT THEIR ABILITY TO GROW: (Susan Kelly, “Medical Device Tax May Spur Price Hikes, Cost Cuts,” Reuters, 4/18/2012)

MEDICAL INDUSTRY: “TAX WILL STIFLE INNOVATION AND SEND JOBS OVERSEAS”: (Susan Kelly, “Medical Device Tax May Spur Price Hikes, Cost Cuts,” Reuters, 4/18/2012)

TAX IMPACT IS DOUBLE THE SIZE OF TOTAL ANNUAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT BUDGET IN MEDICAL DEVICES: “The 2.3 percent tax will be a $20 billion blow to an industry that employs more than 400,000, and $20 billion is almost double the industry’s annual investment in research and development.” (George Will, “Taxing Jobs Out of Existence,” The Washington Post, 5/9/2012)

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)

ObamaCare’s other provisions may also make it difficult for small businesses to continue offering health coverage to their employees:

SMALL BUSINESSES: OBAMACARE RULES ON “GRANDFATHERED” HEALTH CARE PLANS MAY CAUSE DROPPED HEALTH COVERAGE FOR WORKERS:“Unfortunately, the restrictiveness of these regulations removes the already limited choices small businesses have to try to keep up with the ever-increasing cost of plans. The Administration is essentially making it harder for small firms to continue offering healthcare, much less keep what they’ve got. Currently, when small business owners are faced with premium increases they are forced to evaluate their budget and their employees’ needs to determine how they can best adapt to this increased cost. These decisions are difficult, and are even harder in this economic environment. When an increase comes, employers often discuss their options and possible changes with their employees. Sometimes they choose to make a modest adjustment, for example, increasing a deductible from $30 to $45 – the Administration now deems that a ‘drastic change’ and would result in a small employer losing their grandfathered status.” (“Grandfathered Health Plans Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” NFIB, Accessed 5/21/2012)

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)

OBAMA’S JOBS COUNCIL: 10.2 MILLION EMPLOYEES AND THEIR DEPENDENTS WOULD BE AFFECTED BY DROPPED COVERAGE: (“Broken Promise: Why ObamaCare Will Force Americans to Lose the Health Care Coverage They Have and Like,” House Committee on Ways & Means, 5/1/2012)

BROKEN PROMISES: OBAMACARE TAX CREDITS FAIL TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE: “Tax credits in President Obama’s healthcare law aren’t big enough to prompt small businesses to start offering healthcare benefits, the Government Accountability Office said Monday. The small-business tax credit has not lived up to expectations. The Congressional Budget Office initially estimated that the credits would total $2 billion in 2010, but the real cost that year only came to $468 million, GAO said.” (Sam Baker, “GAO: Health Law’s Tax Credits Too Small to Entice Small Businesses,”The Hill, 5/21/2012)

Despite these hard facts, Democrats continue to oppose repealing ObamaCare and continue defending their job-destroying government healthcare takeover that is making healthcare less secure:

HOUSE VOTES 26 TIMES TO REPEAL THE GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE TAKEOVER AND COUNTING: “Twenty-six is the number of times the House GOP has voted to repeal, raze or strike funding for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which became law in 2010.” (Chad Pergram, “Repeal and Replace,” Fox News Radio’s “The Speaker’s Lobby,” 5/19/2012)

BUT DEMS HAVE REPEATEDLY PROVED THEY WON’T REPEAL OR EVEN FIX OBAMACARE:

98% OF HOUSE DEMS VOTED AGAINST REPEALING OBAMACARE: (Roll Call 14, Clerk of the U.S. House, 1/19/2011)

95% OF HOUSE DEMS VOTED AGAINST REPEALING OBAMACARE SLUSH FUNDS: (Roll Call 264, Clerk of the U.S. House, 4/13/2011)

95% OF HOUSE DEMS VOTED AGAINST REPEALING FUNDS FOR OBAMACARE STATE EXCHANGES: (Roll Call 285, Clerk of the U.S. House, 5/3/2011)

97% OF HOUSE DEMS VOTED AGAINST REPEALING FUNDS FOR OBAMACARE HEALTH CENTERS: (Roll Call 290, Clerk of the U.S. House, 5/4/2011)

83% OF HOUSE DEMS VOTE AGAINST REPEALING FISCALLY DISASTROUS “CLASS” PROGRAM: (Roll Call 18, Clerk of the U.S. House, 2/1/2012)

90% OF HOUSE DEMS VOTED AGAINST REPEALING IPAB: (Roll Call 126, Clerk of the U.S. House, 3/22/2012)

87% OF HOUSE DEMS VOTED AGAINST REPEALING OBAMACARE SLUSH FUNDS TO PREVENT STUDENT INTEREST RATE HIKES: (Roll Call 195, Clerk of the U.S. House, 4/27/2012)