Senate Decision to Preserve the ACA is a Resounding Victory for Small Businesses

For Immediate Release: 
Friday, July 28, 2017

Statement from Small Business Majority Founder & CEO John Arensmeyer on why small businesses are cheering the U.S. Senate’s rejection of a proposal to gut the Affordable Care Act

 

The U.S. Senate’s vote last night to reject a proposal that would have gutted the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a resounding victory for America’s 28 million small businesses.

The various proposals offered by Republican leadership in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate were disgracefully crafted behind closed doors and over the objections of the overwhelming majority of small business owners, in addition to hospitals, insurance providers, doctors and nurses. The different plans paraded about would have hurt small businesses by taking insurance away from no less than 16-32 million people and increasing premiums by 20 percent or more. What’s more, these proposals would have cost the economy one million jobs, and rolled back Medicaid, which millions of small business employees depend on for healthcare.

It is therefore with great relief that we can say reason won out last night after eight years of obstruction by ideologically driven lawmakers who opposed the ACA regardless of its benefits to small firms and self-employed Americans. We fought hard on behalf of small businesses to advocate for the ACA’s passage, and we have worked tirelessly to ensure its responsible implementation and to beat back this year's disastrous attempts at repeal.  

The reason we worked so hard in support of the ACA from the outset is that we knew small businesses needed relief from the crushing costs associated with healthcare and because millions of small business owners, their employees and self-employed entrepreneurs have been able to obtain health coverage that was previously unattainable or unaffordable. The ACA has also been crucial to stabilizing rates in the small-group market, with small-group rate increases being cut in half since the law’s implementation, as well as helping would-be entrepreneurs have the security they need to pursue their dreams.

Now that the battle to end the ACA seems to be at an end, we hope lawmakers from both sides will come together to strengthen the law. We also hope the process to improve the ACA will be fully transparent, so that small businesses can be part of the conversation. We look forward to working with Republicans and Democrats to make a good law even better so that America’s job creators can continue to succeed.

 

About Small Business Majority

Small Business Majority was founded and is run by small business owners to ensure America’s entrepreneurs are a key part of an inclusive, equitable and diverse economy. We actively engage our network of more than 55,000 small business owners in support of public policy solutions and deliver information and resources to entrepreneurs that promote small business growth. Our extensive scientific polling, focus groups and economic research help us educate and inform policymakers, the media and other stakeholders about key issues impacting small businesses and freelancers. Learn more about us on our website and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

 
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National