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<onlyinclude>[[Image:obama's signature.jpg|250px|right]] One important concern with the Patient Protection and [[Affordable Care Act]] by the media and the bill’s adversaries is that “Obamacare” will kill [[Small Business]]. While the ACA can and will negatively impact some small businesses, the actual harm of Obamacare regulations and mandates to small businesses, however, depends entirely on what is considered a small business. The effect of Obamacare on small businesses varies vastly between firms of different composition and size within their workforces (i.e. number of full time employees, average wages, state where the business is operated). While the cost of providing health care insurance has assuredly risen, health insurance premiums have been on the rise for many years [http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-small-business/]. The visible effect of Obamacare on small businesses is not necessarily seen in abandonment of plans to grow a business or death of businesses themselves, but, rather, in the slowing or decrease in hiring of employees and cutting of employee hours. </onlyinclude>
=='''How the ACA really affects small businesses'''==
=='''SHOP Exchange'''==
[[Image:[[Image:SHOP.jpg|280px|right|]]]]
The SHOP Marketplace or Exchange (Small Business Health Options Program, is a provision of the ACA designed to help small businesses get lower health insurance rates using group plans and also to claim tax credits. However the SHOP exchange did not open up to employers with less than 50 FTE until 2015 and only just opened up in 2016 to businesses with 100 FTE or less. A SHOP allows for some employer choice functions, thus, enabling employers to choose from a larger field of available coverage options for its employees [http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc501935/m1/1/high_res_d/R43181_2015Jan15.pdf]. However, it is still unclear whether there is a financial advantage in using the SHOP exchanges, as insurers in the marketplace regardless will still be unable to charge premiums based on health status, and workers using the SHOP exchanges, will become ineligible for subsidies when they buy their own insurance [http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st356]. What the SHOP program does do, however, is offer small businesses increased buying power in the group-plan market (an advantage only larger firms used to possess), and the exchange also offers a simpler way to compare prices, coverage, and quality of plans [http://obamacarefacts.com/insurance-exchange/shop-exchange/].
