Obamacare Impact: Small Businesses Hurt by Obamacare.
June 27, 2012 at 10:13 am in News, Obamacare Impact Stories by Tea Party Patriots 26 Comments
Mike G is a small business owner. Read his story about how Obamacare is taking money out of his pocket.
Last year I was robbed of $4,600, I am currently being robbed as I speak, and my employees who have health insurance are also being robbed. In fact did you know that over a million small family run businesses that provide health insurance for their employees are also being robbed at this very moment?
We can’t call the police we can’t call the FBI, the CIA, Not even Superman or Captain Marvel can even help! We are being robbed due to the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Which was created by the new Super Hero of the far left we will call him Captain, Captain Chaos.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act unjustly discriminates against small family businesses that provide health insurance for their employees and their family members who work for them. LET ME EXPLAIN!
As we watched the debate over health care unfold, the one thing that Captain Chaos kept on repeating over and over, was the provision in the law that allowed for a 35% tax credit for small businesses. My agent informed me that when the law goes into effect my premiums would sky rocket. That is why the tax credit was written into the law.
So, in 2010 the first phase of the law took effect the result of this first phase caused a 22% increase in our premiums, half of which I pay and half the employee pays. This amounted to $5600.00 more than the previous year right out of my pocket. Not to mention the hit my employees also took. The cost to my employees ranged from $200 to $1300 a year, depending on their age.
So come tax time I go see my accountant and tell him I want to take the credit for health insurance premiums, he says lets back up a bit and read the details in that provision of the law.
The provision states that the employer and any relative who works for the employer are exempt from taking the tax credit. (Being exempt from a tax is a good thing, but being exempt from a tax CREDIT is a bad thing.)
Well my friends that’s 70% of the people on the plan. If I could have been able to use the tax credit, it would have amounted to around $5300 it would be almost equal to the increase in premiums. But instead I end up with less than a $1000 credit and now I am out $4600 plain and simple I was robbed thanks to Captain Chaos’ new patient protection and affordable care act.
Remember when Captain Chaos finally admitted that shovel ready jobs weren’t really that shovel ready. So too will he soon confess that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act really isn’t that affordable.
This is nothing more than extortion; I am left with three options.
• I can pay the increase.
• I can water down the benefits you know to one of those plans with a $10,000 deductible, and a 60/40 co-pay,
• I can just cancel the Insurance and let everyone fend for themselves for the next two years until the Act becomes fully implemented.
That’s provided that the Supreme Court rules the law constitutional. Which we hope is not the case.
But if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the Left. It will no doubt motivate us even more to show up at the polls in November to make it a clean sweep by taking the House, Senate and the Presidency, making way for the full repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act once and for all. And allowing for full reparations to small family businesses form the extortion perpetrated upon them by the Obama Presidency.
Mike G.
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The Best solution for Obama Care is “Medicare for All”: Single-payer non-profit. Reduces costs by 30%. It covers everyone for everything. Eliminates all private insurance companies which contribute nothing to healthcare, keep 40 cents of every dollar you pay them to reward CEO’s- as much as $40million/year! While practicing deny/delay to maximize profit. Single Payer is fully funded with about $800 per year per family, Cost only .05 on the Dollar to implement. Eliminates fee-for-service medicine (end of $5,000 MRI’s, $200,000 by-passes, $200 office visits and $1,000/day hospital rooms). Eliminates Big Pharma extortion (why is your pill $100 and the same pill in Mexico is $5?). Improves results (the US was #38 in quality and outcomes worldwide (WHO), despite spending 10 times what other developed countries do). There are 20 developed countries in the G-20. 18 of them have some version of “Medicare for All”. They all spend infinitely less on health care, cover all of their citizens for everything all the time and have better results than we do. Why is that? Because the GOP are owned by the Insurance Lobby. JUST ONE MORE REASON WE MUST VOTE THEM ALL OUT!
Thats correct but they also allow the really sick to die waiting for treatment.
hence lower cost.
Your level of ignorance is simply stunning!
J Broussard
Your level of ignorance is simply stunning!
Back at you!
“Medicare for All”. Think for a minute, where is medicare now? BROKE. So the solution is do more of it?. Do you own your business? Have you personally created payroll? Remember this is a TAX. If you are a struggling small business, and owed IRS money, how is this going to help you or your employees? Not your problem, right?
Dam your good! Wish I said that!
Bob Janz Is the best !
We should hold these truths to be self-evident.
Health care should be a fundamental unalienable Right for all citizens.
The health of a nation should not be a commodity to be bought or sold.
Without health there can be no Life.
Without health there can be no Liberty.
Without health there can be no pursuit of happiness.
“When it shall be said in any country in the world my poor are happy; neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want; the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend, because I am a friend of its happiness: When these things can be said, there may that country boast its Constitution and its Government”
― Thomas Paine, Rights Of Man
Corporations are not people.
Money is not free speech.
Jim, Never did Thomas Paine call for the government to provide any personal service for the people. Where do you get these ideas? They are purely socialist in nature with NO BASIS in natural law.
Paine was NO SOCIALIST he called for LESS governmental control over people NOT MORE. Your attempt to bring Paine to the defense of Obamacare is frankly, LAUGHABLE.
Tim said on June 28, 2012
“Jim, Never did Thomas Paine call for the government to provide any personal service for the people”
We all ready are. If you are in a car wreck and have no insurance the hospital must take care of you even if you can not afford it. Hospitals are going bankrupt and raising prices for every one.
Do you live on a vacuum?
One of the reasons health care is so high is hospitals have to take people even if they can not pay for it. Lots of hospitals are going out of business and they are charging people with insurance a lot more to pay for the people without insurance. So if every one has insurance prices should go down. And like I posted before my first gp doctor bill for a regular visit was just under $500 to my insurance company. What a rip off!
So your insurance company raised your rates and you blame it on the health care law that has not even gone into effect yet! Everyone’s rates went up this year. What makes you think these private for profit insurance companies are not just gouging you and me?
your really stupid the law went into effct in 2010.
Yea Insurance company’s can not reject kids from coverage because of prior conditions. Not any more because of Obama Care Yea that’s a bad thing!
The first phase of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act took effct in 2010.
our Premium went up 3% in 2009
our Premium went up 22% in 2010 when the first phase of the act went into effect.
our Premium went up 3% for 2011 and the same for 2012.
Besides my major complaint is the fact that the tax credit for small buissneses excludes the owner of the business and their relatives. Small businesses that run by a owner who has no relatives working for them are allowed to take the majority of the credit.
I stand by my claim that the law discriminates against small family businesses.
Your statement that the law hasn’t gone into effect shows your ignorance of the total law and that you are just a liberal hack paid by the far left.
Mike G.
You’re despicable.
You possess no “right” that obliges another against his will.
This forum sure is full of libtards. Are there any actual Tea Party members here other than myself and Tim?
Trying to win a pissing contest with the government by throwing money into organizations who are against a particular polititians’ agenda, when they’re (our government) using our mandated tax money against us, is fruitless. It costs them nothing to fight forever. We end up fighting ourselves and nothing changes. We have to take the money factor out of the equation. Why do we need our government to decide everything for us? It’s not just the health care issue. Why is “political correctness” so important? So much so, that moral correctness, and the benchmark of morality, The Bible, are buried in squables introduced by cultures permitted to disrupt every basic building block that this nation has been structured upon. This is the United States Of America. We speak English, We worship God, we have a constitution and bill of rights that defines us, and has grown us into the greatest country in the world. That and what should go without saying the infinate grace of God, has made us strong and functioned very well for hundreds of years. It is only when man oversteps his boundaries, and tries to govern himself in ways that should be based on Biblical decisions and is not, that we have allowed this downward spiral of corruption and erosion to thrive. The repercussions of our actions are displayed in every facit of our world, yet we fail to see. We fail to comprehend the magnatude of our failed attempts to out govern God. We have to make provisions for this or that “special circumstance” that has itself risen out of another failed attempt to out govern God. Stop!! Back up!! we’re going the wrong way!! It’s not working!! It’s getting worse!! It’s not right simply because there is not a specific law written by our government that forbids it.!! I could “rant” ’til the cows come home and most will only judge me by my “political correctness”. So I’ll read my bible and follow Gods word, and hang with those who share my “Humble opinions”. Maybe we’ll start a new world across the ocean with no taxation without representation, where we allow people to SERVE as our elected officials in a government By the people, for the people, but make them hold regular jobs for thier support, and pay them nothing for their service but the judgement of the people for their Conscientiousness, or lack thereof.
…and Ron? (applause)
I ditto that (applause)!
Hey Ron….APPLAUSE!
Back to Mike G. I think he has a legitimate gripe. And is giving an accurate example. In reading some of the other comments it would seem as some feel he is shirking his portion of responsability. Small business has been tageted as the new “middle class” IMHO, and we are all seeing how that “class” is getting bled. I too own a small business and have had to deal with the same issues since December of 1999 at our inception. If we don’t stop the current trend of government small business is going to be bled dry as well. Currently my only option is to employ myself and family and when extra help is needed it’s 1099. And even at that I need an accountant to do my taxes. The tax codes are far beyond understanding as they stand for business. It could and should be so much simpler. Like why do I have to pay property tax on a new piece of leased equipment? What!!?? Why does there need to be a capitol gains tax at all? A simple income tax should be entirely enough to support our government. Social security , if left alone, is entirely self supportive. But every facit sustaining programs that show a profit should go to sustaining a strong military defense. In stead it is sifted off and redirected into other areas that serve nothing more than individual self interests and the wealth of those who know how to manipulate the system. And it is blatent, in your face, and what are you going to do about it, arrogence. Movies are made of the ones that get caught. Millions more are made by criminal who get caught. Beware when evil is good and good evil. Christianity is not allowed, but satan worshipping is just fine. Think about every concievable kindness that could be shown to a fellow human being, has been turned into a vulnerability and we are now warned NOT to stop to help someone for fear that it is a scam of some sort and will put you in harms way. There are always two directions to choose from in every situation. Good situations and bad situations also known as luck or better still life. One path takes you farther from God, the other brings you closer. When my wife was killed in an auto accident, I chose to praise God for taking her from this turmultuous world we had both been struggling to exist in. Of course I greived for my loss, but was also joyful for her gain, eternal life in heaven. She always seemed to be able to finish her work before me anyway
. We all need to consider the two paths and choose wisely, because it really does matter to everyone involved. Friends , family, neighbors, and those in the general vacinity. Stop all the violent knee jerk responces and replace them with educated desisions that you learned along the way and passed on to your kids. Preserve the family unit and the Bibles definition of it. Stop adjusting the laws to suit the actions you want to be legal. Instill moral values , stop the crazyness of sports venues and the astronomical salaries, and bring back the love of the game instead of the love of the gain. The whole money thing has gone haywire, as a broken bailer. Who could find it difficult to live on 100k income? Maybe the guy with 12 kids and inlaws, but come on. The shift has to come from each individual. Greed is seen as being ok. excess of anything is glutony. Obesity is too much food and not enough work. If you are handicapped in some way, a diet can be taylored to thier needs. I have a neighbor who needs help so I have to stop. But what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own sole? How many rich people have done time in prison? How many have fallen from pinacles recently. Be sure your sin will find you out. Just a few directives that should guide everyone.
Love what you had to say! Very Good with a tear in my eyes!
Need to get maybe a flat tax for every one!
“The tax codes are far beyond understanding as they stand for business. It could and should be so much simpler.”
And actually, Mike G., now that I reread the IRS guidelines, it sounds like your accountant should have been able to calculate the credit using Form 8941, Credit for Small Employer Health Insurance Premiums and then included that amount as part of the general business credit on your income tax return.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4862.pdf
Here are some other resources to help you understand the small business provisions of the Affordable Care Act:
http://www.healthcare.gov/news/factsheets/2011/08/small-business.html
http://www.healthcare.gov/news/brochures/Better%20Benefits%20Better%20Health/small-businesses.pdf
Again, I hope this helps! I’m sorry for your negative experience, and I hope the Affordable Care Act does in fact make it less costly for you to insure your employees and for your employees to purchase coverage.
Mike, I’m not sure where my original post disappeared to, but I addressed two points: 1) the causal link you attribute to your rising premium costs and the Affordable Care Act, and 2) the guidelines for small businesses to qualify for tax credits to subsidize the cost of providing health insurance to your employees.
The information provided by the government’s official website, http://www.healthcare.gov, states clearly that if you employ fewer than 25 people, pay wages averaging less than $50,000 per full-time employee, and you pay for at least 50% of the cost of providing “single” (employee-only) insurance to your employees, then you qualify for a tax credit.
Perhaps this is something you should discuss with your accountant.
As far as attributing the rise in premiums you’ve experienced to the Affordable Care Act, here’s what the independent fact-checker, Factcheck.org says about the connection:
“Health insurance premiums for employer-sponsored family plans jumped a startling 9 percent from 2010 to 2011, and Republicans have blamed the federal health care law. But they exaggerate. The law — the bulk of which has yet to be implemented — has caused only about a 1 percent to 3 percent increase in premiums, according to several independent experts. The rest of the 9 percent rise is due to rising health care costs, as usual.
Furthermore, the increase caused by the law is a result of the increased benefits it requires, a factor Republicans generally ignore. So far, insurance companies have been required to do the following:
■Cover preventive care without copays or deductibles.
■Allow adult children to stay on parents’ policies until age 26.
■Increase annual coverage limits.
■Cover children without regard for preexisting conditions.”
http://factcheck.org/2011/10/factchecking-health-insurance-premiums/.
This longer, more detailed analysis of the issue cites a number of state health insurance commissioners and other experts who agree that rising premium costs are less an outcome of the ACA and more a reflection of trends in medical care. It also cites a case in which an insurer, Regence Blue Shield of Washington, sent a letter to policyholders blaming the ACA for the increase, but was compelled by the state commissioner to send a revised letter admitting that “increases are due in large part to rising medical and prescription costs. High rates of use, technology, and changes to federal and state regulations also have an impact on premiums.”
http://www.factcheck.org/2010/11/the-truth-about-health-insurance-premiums/
One of the reasons health care is so high is hospitals have to take people even if they can not pay for it. Lots of hospitals are going out of business and they are charging people with insurance a lot more to pay for the people without insurance. So if every one has insurance prices should go down. And like I posted before my first gp doctor bill for a regular visit was just under $500 to my insurance company. What a rip off!
This story just doesn’t add up. By the math, you have a lot less than 50 employees; so, you’re exempt from the act.
Second, 70% of your employees are family and you have a problem with providing them all health insurance for a measely $7K a year?
Third, you cannot write of your healthcare costs on your business form because that would be double write offs when you claim it on your personal return. If your accountant did not know that, you should fire him – but, if your family knows how much you begrudge them healthcare, they should disown you!