Forbes: Small Businesses In The ‘Cross-Hairs’ of ObamaCare
Small Businesses Face New Obamacare Threat
by Grace-Marie Turner, FORBES CONTRIBUTOR
Small businesses are in the cross-hairs of Obamacare, particularly the growing small businesses the economy needs to create much-needed jobs.
Starting in 2016, businesses with 51 to 100 employees will face fines of $2,000 to $3,000 a year per employee if they don’t provide Obamacare-compliant health insurance for their workers. Also starting next year, these companies will be forced into insurance pools that could increase premiums for most of them by an average of 18%. That means they would be mandated to purchase health insurance that, for most, would be much more expensive.
The change will affect more than 150,000 businesses and more than three million workers.
Currently, health insurers have broad flexibility in setting premiums for these mid-sized employers, giving them flexibility in benefit structure, rating rules, etc. But the brilliant drafters of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) decided to force all small businesses with 1 to 100 employees into the same pool, starting next year.