JUNEAU, Alaska, Sept. 5, 2014—Denny DeWitt, Alaska state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, offered the following comment on late yesterday’s announcement by the state Department of Commerce that costs for health insurance plans covering 16,000 Alaskans would see historic increases as high as 37 percent.
“These are the rate increases we have feared since the passage of Obamacare. Federally mandated benefits not designed to the purchaser’s needs combined with the health insurance tax that only hits individuals and small businesses are just two examples of this anti-business, anti-individual approach to health insurance. NFIB both nationally and here in Alaska has been asking for relief from this economic burden. It seems that the Obama Administration and the current U.S. Senate majority are simply not interested in providing the much needed relief for individuals and small business.”
With 350,000 dues-paying members across the nation, including 2,000 in Alaska, the National Federation of Independent Business is the nation’s largest and leading small-business association. The cost and availability of health insurance has been small business’ No. 1 concern for almost three decades. NFIB was the named plaintiff in the historic, U.S. Supreme Court case, NFIB v. Sebelius, challenging Obamacare.
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For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. NFIB’s educational mission is to remind policymakers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses; they have very different challenges and priorities.
National Federation of Independent Business/Alaska
P.O. Box 34761
Juneau, AK 99801
907-723-6667
