For Immediate Release
Jack Mozloom, 202-406-4450 or 609-462-5610 (cell)
National Federation
of Independent Business (NFIB) disputes Obama’s claim that the health care law
represents “progress”
Washington, DC (January 8, 2016) – President Obama’s
decision today to veto a bill that would have repealed some of the most painful
provisions of the Affordable Care Act was as predictable as the sunrise but
regrettable nevertheless, said the National Federation of Independent Business
(NFIB) today.
“All of our research for the past several years as well as
our members’ testimony suggests that small business owners are not among the
winners under the Affordable Care Act,” said Kevin Kuhlman, NFIB Director of
Public Policy. “Their premiums have increased, their options have
narrowed and they face new taxes and penalties that threaten their viability.”
In his veto message the President said that the measure,
which would have repealed the employer mandate, the individual mandate and some
of the taxes that fall hard on small businesses, “would reverse the significant
progress that we have made at improving health care in America.”
The law has been in place for six years and there is very
little evidence that it has benefited small businesses in the way they
originally promised.
“The Affordable Care Act fails at its primary goal, which
was to make health insurance and medical care more affordable for more
Americans,” said Kuhlman. “Of course there are winners. But many
more Americans, including small business owners, are paying more for insurance
that was already too expensive before the law.”
