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Although, health care is not a mandatory service for small businesses with under 50 FTE, many small businesses still provide health insurance for their employees. These companies, along with most larger companies, are seeing rising premiums on their insurance due the ACA stipulation that health care companies cannot deny coverage when considering an individual's health. However, there are options to compensate with these increased (non-mandatory operating cost), the most obvious of which, includes stopping the provision of health insurance or increasing the employee contribution to their coverage.
→Summary
Despite all of the backlash the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, has received for its perceived potential destruction on small businesses, for the most part, small businesses with under 50 full time employees are not greatly affected by the Act. In fact, companies with under 50 employees, which make up a large portion of small businesses, are not penalized at all for not providing comprehensive and affordable health care to their employees. Companies with between 50 to 99 employees are required to provide insurance, but the penalties imposed for not complying with the ACA requirements were delayed until 2016, while the penalty for companies with >99 employees was delayed until 2015.
"Four years after President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law, there is still uncertainty regarding its effects, due to delays and exemptions granted by the Obama administration and challenges still pending in the courts. So far, however, there is plenty of evidence that the ACA, or Obamacare, is raising the cost of health insurance to employers and individuals.
The effects on business vary - by state, firm size and the composition of firms' workforces - but the impact on small businesses is especially acute. Whereas large corporations typically self-insure - paying their employees' medical bills and hiring insurers to administer health benefits - small businesses purchase group health coverage from insurers and face cost-increasing regulations as they go through the annual ritual of renewing their coverage. Over the next few years, as regulations and mandates are finally implemented, Obamacare will affect how businesses operate - including hiring, employee compensation, growth and so forth." [http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st356 NCPA]
Although, health care is not a mandatory service for small businesses with under 50 FTE, many small businesses still provide health insurance for their employees. These companies, along with most larger companies, are seeing rising premiums on their insurance due the ACA stipulation that health care companies cannot deny coverage when considering an individual's health. However, there are options to compensate with these increased (non-mandatory operating cost), the most obvious of which, includes stopping the provision of health insurance or increasing the employee contribution to their coverage.
"Nearly two-thirds of Americans with health coverage have employer-sponsored health insurance - approximately 171 million people. Slightly less than three-fourths (71 percent) of firms that employ 10 to 24 workers offered coverage in 2011. In contrast, only 48 percent of firms employing three to nine workers offered coverage in 2011. The proportion of small employers offering health coverage has been declining for years. Under the Affordable Care Act, many firms will find it in their self-interest to abandon their company health plans." [http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st356 NCPA]
==Obamacare Effects on Small Businesses with 50-99 FTE==
