Small businesses do not want Obamacare killed

So Thursday is the big day.  The Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of the individual mandate of Obamacare. 

The critics of the healthcare reform have alleged that small business owners want the law totally repealed.  Below is a legitimate poll that disagrees.

Half of Small Business Owners Want Healthcare Law Upheld; Only One-Third Want it Overturned

Opinion polling released today shows 50 percent of small businesses believe the Supreme Court should uphold the Affordable Care Act, either as is or with only minor changes; poll finds strong support for key provisions in the law

June 14, 2012

Half of small business owners want the healthcare reform law upheld—either as is or with minor changes—while only one-third want the Supreme Court to overturn it, according to opinion polling released today by Small Business Majority. However, after learning more about the law, a clear majority (56 percent) want it kept intact with, at most, only minor changes.

The Supreme Court is expected to hand down its decision any day in the case against the Affordable Care Act, filed by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and state attorneys general. The polling of 800 small business owners in eight states (Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Texas and Virginia) found that once small business owners learn more about the law, their support for keeping it intact—either as is or with minor changes—rises to 56 percent, while opposition falls to just 28 percent.

“Contrary to popular belief, small business owners do not want the high court to throw out the Affordable Care Act,” said John Arensmeyer, Founder & CEO of Small Business Majority. “They see this law as helping everyone have coverage and bringing down healthcare costs—something that has been one of their top concerns for years. We hope Supreme Court justices understand how important this law is to small businesses who need relief from high healthcare costs.”

Key provisions of the law also have strong small business support, including one of the most crucial components for small businesses—the health insurance exchanges. The Affordable Care Act calls for exchanges—online marketplaces where small businesses can pool their buying power when purchasing coverage—to be up and running in every state by 2014. Sixty-six percent of owners say they would use their state exchange or consider using it to provide their employees with health benefits. The majority of entrepreneurs find potential features of the exchange very appealing, including employee choice (76 percent), the exchange educating employees about plans (74 percent), and the exchange providing plans that offer prevention and wellness programs (77 percent). Additionally, a strong majority (66 percent) of small businesses support their state applying for federal funds to set one up.

“Small businesses have been at the center of this lawsuit, and everything I hear is that they want it overturned. That’s not true for me, and it obviously isn’t true for the majority of my fellow entrepreneurs,” said Mark Hodesh, owner of Downtown Home and Garden in Ann Arbor, Mich. “I sincerely hope our Supreme Court justices listen to what real small businesses are saying about this law, not what a select few are saying for us, and that they uphold it. Going back to the status quo would be unthinkable.”

Other key findings from the poll:

• 55 percent of small businesses who support upholding the law believe it should be kept because we need to make sure everyone has health coverage; more than one-third say it’s because it will make it easier to purchase insurance
• 72 percent support the medical loss ratio requirement, where insurers are required to spend at least 80 percent of premiums on healthcare claims and quality improvement efforts
• 65 percent support “rate review,” where state regulators are allowed to review and approve or reject insurers’ increases they deem excessive
• 78 percent support prohibiting insurers from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions
• 69 percent support preventing insurance companies from basing insurance rates on health status; 73 percent support preventing insurers from charging women higher rates than men
• 69 percent favor allowing young people up to age 26 to stay on their parents’ plans
• 55 percent of small business owners provide insurance to at least some of their employees, but of those who don’t offer it, 70 percent say it’s because they can’t afford it
• Of small businesses who do offer benefits, respondents said the two most compelling reasons to offer were that they had a responsibility to offer (47 percent) and because it helps retain good employees (47 percent)
• Of the small businesses who qualify for a tax credit under the law, but were not taking advantage of it, nearly half (46 percent) said they weren’t using it because they were not aware it existed
• Nearly half of all small businesses (49 percent) said they’d be more likely to offer insurance if they qualified for a tax credit and the same percentage said they’d be more likely to purchase insurance through an exchange if they could receive a tax credit
• 51 percent of small businesses are interested in establishing a workplace wellness program

To read the full report go online to http://www.smallbusinessmajority.org/small-business-research/healthcare/index.php

This small business wants Obama’s health insurance law

Tomorrow might be the day the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act--Obamacare. Then again it might be on Monday or next Wednesday. We're not sure but when the decision is revealed, the media will go crazy.

So until that happens, listen to Louisa McQueeney, the CFO of Palm Beach Groves, an orange shipping business in Lantana, Florida.

The Miami Herald
Jun. 18, 2012

This small business wants Obama’s health insurance law

BY LOUISA MCQUEENEY
louisamcq@gmail.com

Running a small business with four employees, I’ve got a lot hanging in the balance as the Supreme Court deliberates on the healthcare law. The legal challenge to the law was launched here in Florida with a small business lobby group as a plaintiff in the case. But if you’re thinking that means small business people like me want to see the law rolled back, think again.

The simple fact is, the healthcare law is saving our business serious money and saving our healthcare benefits. Rolling it back would be a real blow — it could spell the end of our healthcare benefits, and push more small business employees into bankruptcy.

I’ve spent the past 12 years at Palm Beach Groves, a small orange shipping business in South Florida. As general manager, I’ve seen our health insurance premiums increase by double-digits every year for a decade. Renewal season has always been a nerve-wracking time, as the decision to continue providing health coverage — and how much of the cost to shift onto employees — gets harder every year. Our staff hasn’t seen a raise in more than seven years because any extra income goes to pay for our rising insurance premiums.

Then along came “Obamacare.”

Last November, our health insurance agent called with our renewal: after annual increases of 12 percent, 22 percent, and even 32 percent, our premiums in 2012 would increase by a grand total of . . . 0.2 percent. Zero point two — ie, flat.

I was floored. And this flat renewal came with exactly the same plan — no dumbing down the coverage, no increase in our deductibles, everything was the same.

Then, at tax time, we qualified for the health law’s small business tax credit. This credit cut our total healthcare costs by about 10 percent, or $7,400, in 2011.

And we’re not through yet. I’m curious to see how the Affordable Care Act’s 80/20 value for premiums rule will affect our group. We might even get a rebate check from our insurance company this summer if it failed to spend the required 80 percent of premiums on actual healthcare costs. For the first time in my 12 years in this business, the healthcare picture is finally looking up for Palm Beach Groves.

Despite the benefits small businesses out in the real world are seeing from the law, the calls for the repeal of “ObamaCare” continue on. Opponents of the law say they want to replace it with something else. But the “alternatives” they offer are all talking points, no substance.

“Let health insurance companies sell across state lines.” Sounds nice in theory, until you learn that this is code for giving insurers license to sell any kind of junk insurance that likely won’t cover what you need. Besides, our neighbors in Georgia tried this last year. Not a single out-of-state insurance company showed up to the party.

Or “Health Savings Accounts,” which are supposed to make us “better,” “more informed,” and “more responsible” consumers of healthcare. Try calling a doctor’s office and ask for the price of a biopsy, or a fix for a broken leg or by-pass surgery. Good luck with that one.

We have experience with HSAs:

A few years ago, our company was forced into a high deductible HSA plan by our insurer. This meant paying the first $5,000 of healthcare costs out of pocket and then paying a high monthly premium on top of that before the health insurance company paid a dime.

That’s not a solution. It’s more of the same old squeeze.

The Affordable Care Act is working for our business. We now have free preventive well-care visits — a smart investment in our health. My daughter can stay on our plan until she turns 26. Kids can no longer be excluded because they have a pre-existing condition, and in 2014 none of us can be denied insurance or discriminated against because of pre-existing conditions.

Why would anyone want to take all this away?

The justices of the Supreme Court — who enjoy an array of healthcare choices as federal employees — hold our fate in their hands. If the court cares about small businesses — not business lobbyists, but real small businesses like ours — it should uphold the healthcare law.

We literally can’t afford to go back.

 http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/18/v-print/2856095/this-small-business-wants-obamas.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy