Small Businesses Oppose Attempt to Repeal Healthcare Reform
Small Business Majority and Main Street Alliance Say New Law Crucial to Small Business Success, File Amicus Brief in VA Opposing Repeal Lawsuit
Richmond, VA/Sausalito, CA, June 17, 2010: National small business advocacy groups Small Business Majority and Main Street Alliance today filed an amicus brief in Virginia opposing a lawsuit aimed at repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—a legal maneuver that grabs headlines but does nothing to lower the cost of health insurance for the country's 28 million small businesses.
"We want to ensure the court knows that the new law, while certainly not perfect, includes a number of provisions that will help small businesses buy more affordable health insurance," said John Arensmeyer, CEO of Small Business Majority. "The best way to serve small business owners is to help them understand, participate in and benefit from the broad changes that are already underway, not tear down the policies aimed at helping them."
"Healthcare reform does a lot to help small businesses, including ending insurance discrimination and allowing us to band together to shop for coverage with real bargaining power," said Tammy Rostov, owner of Rostov's Coffee and Tea in Richmond, and a leader with the Virginia Main Street Alliance. "This lawsuit threatens to take all that away by undermining core elements of reform. There are plenty of ways to continue making healthcare work better for small businesses forcing us back into the same broken system that has left us in the lurch for so long is not one of them."
The tax credits, health insurance exchanges and other provisions of the PPACA will offer small businesses some relief from the costs that are hindering their growth and success. Repealing the law would once again mire small business owners in a system that threatens their competitiveness, discourages entrepreneurship and makes them unable to play their historical role as the country's primary job creators.
About Small Business Majority
Small Business Majority is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded and run by small business owners and focused on solving the biggest problem facing small businesses today: the skyrocketing cost of health coverage. We speak for the nearly 28 million Americans who are self-employed or own businesses of up to 100 employees. Our organization sponsors scientific research that guides us to understand and advocate on behalf of the interests of small businesses across the country.
About Main Street Alliance
The Main Street Alliance is a national network of small business coalitions. MSA creates opportunities for small business owners to speak for themselves to advance public policies that benefit business owners, their employees, and the communities they serve. Making health reform work for small businesses is a top priority of the MSA network and its state coalitions.