Changes

“The Affordable Care Act tackles small business owners’ top priorities when it comes to health-care reform: cost and accessibility. The law will significantly rein in costs while providing more health coverage options for entrepreneurs.” [http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-small-business/].

So while there is certainly evidence that the ACA has increased burdens and regulations for small businesses, thus slowing or halted hiring by many small employers - and even cut hours for many employees - there is surely not yet enough evidence to suggest that the ACA and its regulations have or will overwhelmingly devastate the small business economy.

If the ACA is amended and improved, as Democratic Candidate Secretary Clinton plans, we will see hopefully an enhancement of the options for small businesses that wish or are required to provide health care insurance its employees. It would be nearly impossible to predict the exact effects of a rollout from our status quo, if the ACA is revamped into a Medicaid-for-all single-payer tax system like Democratic Candidate Senator Bernie Sanders proposes, aside from tax-based predictions. On the other hand, if it is indeed repealed, as our Republican nominees would prefer - although we might see a return to the slow trend of rising health insurance premiums and would certainly witness a massive increase in the number of uninsured Americans - the economy could possibly recover some of the jobs lost to the ACA. The future of the Presidency and composition of the Congress in the United States will entirely determine the fate of the health insurance market and small businesses, and ultimately the fate of the American economy and way of life.