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What impact will the new healthcare bill have on SMBs?
I'd like to know what you think the top pro/con is for SMBs with the passage of this bill. Are taxes going to hurt SMBs? Will sole proprietors have an easier time getting health insurance? What is the one thing you would point out to a small business owner who knows little about the provisions of this legislation?
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1 Answer
Caty
I've been on a bunch of talk shows talking about this so I'll try and boil it down to the key handful of issues.
The law is great if...
1. You like the idea of a centralized agency of the government controlling and dictating health care for the benefit of the collective.
2. If you have less than 50 employees and were considering dropping health insurance as a benefit (this law gives you the permission to tell your employees why you cancelled health insurance)
3. If you believe that there are those in society who deserve to be taken care of regardless of whether they earned it or not.
The bill is not so great if...
1. You lean more toward the original intent of the constitution which called for a small federal government with limited-to-no control over the individual's life.
2. You already earn (or plan to earn) a healthy six or seven figure income as an entrepreneur (your taxes now go through the roof to fund this program)
3. You believe that individuals who risk more and thereby earn more should not be penalized for those who don't.
Functionally, the law removes pre-existing conditions (so now an insurance company must insure you regardless of your health situation). That has it's good side (because now you can't be denied coverage). The not-so-good side of that is - insurance companies now have a higher risk and they will simply pass that risk on to consumers with higher costs. There is no other way to take on all that additional risk.
The law mandates what level of coverage will be "acceptable". Business owners will be required to maintain that "acceptable" level of coverage or pay penalties. 16,000+ new IRS agents are being hired to ensure you and I comply.
Medicaid will inherit several million new members with no additional funding.
Medicare will be cut by half a trillion dollars (no idea how that is possible given that it has always spent more each year since it started)
Everyone now has the RIGHT to health insurance. But if I can't afford the health insurance in the first place, the problem still exists.
Will taxes go up for the SMB? no question about it. They already have and will continue to.
Will sole proprietors have an easier time getting insurance? Absolutely yes. They are guaranteed to be accepted (but at what cost?)
The one thing I would point out to a small business owner is that big brother just got more than just his hands in your pocket on this one. He can now come in and take everything you have if you don't play ball the way he wants you to play ball.
Joe
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