Last week, President Obama tried to convince small business owners his health care reform plan was good for their bottom line and their workers.
Recent action taken by small business leaders suggests many aren’t buying it, yet the administration continues its aggressive public relations campaign.
“The White House, courting small business support for the health care reform law, will issue preliminary guidelines Monday for the small business tax credits in the law… The new guidelines come on the heels of growing anti-reform activism in the small business community. The National Federation of Independent Businesses announced Friday that they would be joining the state lawsuits to repeal the health reform overhaul. The United States Chamber of Commerce previously told the Wall Street Journal that it has committed $50 million to unseating Democrats who supported the health reform overhaul. …
“Much of the opposition centers on the requirement that businesses with more than 50 employees will have to provide health insurance or be subject to a per-employee fine.”
(Sarah Kliff, “W.H. to issue health care tax guidelines,” Politico, 5/17/2010)
“Will this win them over? Unlikely. NFIB and the United States Chamber of Commerce mostly take issue with the employer mandate, that businesses with more than 50 employees must provide insurance or pay a fine. While the tax credits provide a tangible benefit to some business owners, they do not address concerns about the mandate."
(Sarah Kliff, “White House makes play for small business support,” Politico Pulse, 5/17/2010)
In this morning’s White House announcement, the head of the Small Business Administration, Karen Mills, stated ObamaCare was intended to work for small businesses “rather than strap them with continually rising costs.” But a recent analysis by the Obama administration reports continually rising costs are exactly what’s in store. According to the analysis, national health care spending will increase by $311 billion over the next 10 years.
And while the White House may be spending the day touting tax credits for small businesses, the tax figure most small employers seem to be focused on is the $87 billion in new taxes they and other employers will have to pay in the form of penalties for failing to provide government-approved health care.
A strong majority of Americans want Congress to scrap ObamaCare and start over with commonsense reform that lowers costs and supports small business owners and taxpayers without growing the size of government. The president should take a fresh look at the House Republican health care plan that helps do just that.
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