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A year has passed since President Obama passed a sweeping healthcare reform bill, and by at least one account, small business owners still don't like it.
A National Federation of Independent Business study, timed for the bill's one-year anniversary, found a solid majority of small business owners don't expect the law to reduce cost or regulatory burdens. Moreover, nearly two-thirds of the respondents believe the law will result in premium increases, but not necessarily better care.
William Dennis, an NFIB Research Foundation senior fellow and the report's author, says the survey proves the bill is “far from the panacea that was promised” after a contentious nationwide debate.
“When it comes to health-insurance reform, perception is reality,” Dennis says in a statement. “The majority of America's small employers simply do not believe that the law will accomplish most of what it promised to do.”
The survey was taken in late April and early May through a series of phone interviews of small business owners, defined by the NFIB as companies with 50 or fewer employees. Other findings include:
• One-fifth of small employers plan to alter their benefit package and/or the amount employees pay into the program. Almost all of those respondents expect the changes to involve a significant decrease in benefits, an increase in employee cost-share, or both;
• An overwhelming majority of employers who don't currently offer healthcare benefits — 87% — say they are either “not too likely” or “not at all likely” to offer coverage a year from now.
That finding suggests the law's highly touted incentives to provide coverage are ineffective. “The law's tax credit for small businesses acts almost exclusively as a windfall for those who currently offer health insurance,” the survey states, “rather than as an incentive to encourage its purchase.”
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