NFIB Applauds Health Care Fix Preventing Rate Increase for Some Small Businesses

Date: October 08, 2015

For Immediate Release

Jack Mozloom, 202-406-4450 or 609-462-5610

Small business group
urges more bipartisan cooperation on fixing the healthcare law

Washington, DC (October 8, 2015) – The National
Federation of Independent Business (NFIB),
often at odds with President
Obama over the Affordable Care Act, today cheered his willingness to support an
exemption for 160,000 small businesses that were otherwise facing premium
hikes.

“This is the only stand-alone bipartisan bill so far
attempting to fix part of the healthcare law that the President has been
willing to sign and he deserves to be commended,” said Kevin Kuhlman,
Director of Federal Public Policy
for NFIB. 

Under the ACA, small businesses with between 51 and 100
employees were due to be scooped into the small group insurance market starting
in 2016.  The small group market is more heavily regulated than the market
for larger businesses and most actuaries expected rates for those firms to
increase as a result.  The measure signed by the President, which passed
both houses of Congress this year with strong bipartisan support, calls off the
mandatory expansion of the small group market. 

“The small group market is more restrictive and expansion
would have attracted businesses with higher risk employees, so premiums would
have increased everyone,” explained Kuhlman.  “Many of the businesses that
would have been forced into the market would have lost the plans that they and
their employees liked and they would have been forced to pay more for their
troubles.”

There is bipartisan agreement
in Congress that the ACA is flawed in other ways.  Numerous reforms have
passed the House with Democratic support and several important measures
languishing in the Senate are supported nevertheless by members on both
sides.  Until yesterday the President has been unwilling to concede
stand-alone changes to the law.  His action, according to Kuhlman, is a
hopeful sign that more progress is possible.

“We hope this becomes a trend,” he said.  “The ACA has
been a big disappointment to small businesses and there are many ways to make
it less burdensome.  Yesterday was a small victory but encouraging
nonetheless.” 

For more information about NFIB, please visit www.nfib.com.

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