Consequences of Defunding Affordable Care Act Would be Severe for Small Businesses

Sausalito, CA, Feb. 15, 2011: Small Business Majority CEO John Arensmeyer joined Administrator Karen Mills, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, and two small business owners on a tele-press conference today to discuss the consequences to small businesses of defunding implementation of the Accordable Care Act.

After opponents of the healthcare law failed in their attempts to repeal it, they are now seeking to defund efforts to implement it. Administrator Mills, Arensmeyer, Oregon small business owner Mike Roach and Maryland small business owner Jamal Lee agreed that defunding implementation of the new healthcare law would devastate America's 28 million small businesses. Small employers would face increased costs, higher taxes, be subjected to a system that discriminates against those with preexisting conditions and more if the law is defunded.

Our research found that absent reform, small businesses would lose billions in profits, hundreds of thousands of small business jobs would disappear and healthcare costs would soar, said Small Business Majority CEO John Arensmeyer. Attempting to defund the law is irresponsible and unnecessary, and jeopardizes our economic recovery by hitting small business owners where it matters the most, their pocketbooks.

Defunding the Affordable Care Act would:

• Deny 4 million small businesses eligible for a tax credit $40 billion in credits to help them cover the cost of health insurance;
• Take away critical resources from states that help control premiums, passing on those costs to small business owners and their employees;
• Make banning insurance companies from denying coverage unenforceable, an affront to millions of self-employed entrepreneurs who often are denied coverage due to a preexisting condition; and
• Force small businesses and their employees to pick up the tab since no sufficient resources will be available for Medicare and law enforcement officials to effectively prevent waste, fraud and abuse.

Put simply, defunding the law would mean higher costs, fewer jobs and slower economic growth.

It's obvious those trying to tear down the healthcare law don't have small businesses best interests at heart, said Mike Roach, co-owner of Paloma Clothing in Portland, OR. For them it's just politics, but it would force us back into a system that sucks us dry, both financially and emotionally. Small businesses need this law. Without it the future looks bleak.

To view Small Business Majority's economic and opinion research on healthcare reform's impact on small businesses, visit our website: http://smallbusinessmajority.org/small-business-research/index.php