Lawmakers in opposition to the Affordable Care Act have been calling one Congressional hearing after another in their attempt to discredit the new law. But research we’ve submitted for hearings this week and last month on how the law impacts the economy clearly shows the ACA holds tremendous benefits for small businesses and the economy as a whole.
If the law’s opponents want to help rebuild our struggling economy and create jobs like they claim, they should focus on strengthening the Act instead of trying to tear it down.
Our testimony for members of the House Education & the Workforce Committee, the Committee on Oversight & Government Reform and the House Ways & Means Committee outlines the ACA’s impact on small employers and the economy and details the consequences of repealing it. We show that without reform, skyrocketing healthcare costs would continue bankrupting small businesses and impeding our economic recovery.
Small business owners are already taking advantage of provisions in the Affordable Care Act, particularly the small business tax credits that they can claim on their 2010 taxes. As other components of the law are implemented, including state health insurance exchanges, small businesses will see even more relief in the form of lower costs, more choice and less administrative hassles.
Based on the many benefits the ACA offers small businesses and the economy overall, opponents of the law should stop playing political theater staged as hearings and instead concentrate on its smooth implementation. The time for recycling old debates has passed. We need to roll up our sleeves and get to work.
John Arensmeyer is the chief executive officer of Small Business Majority, a national nonprofit organization focused on solving the biggest problems facing America’s 28 million small businesses. The organization conducts extensive opinion and economic research and works with small business owners, policy experts and elected officials nationwide to bring nonpartisan small business voices to the public policy table.
