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<onlyinclude>[[Image:obama's signature.jpg|250px|right]] The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010. Together with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act Amendment, the law completely replaced the health care system in the United States, expanding Medicaid and Medicare, and mandating into universal health insurance overagesystem, whether mandating all individuals to sign up for either privately or public fundedhealth insurance. 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]].
The visible effect of Obamacare on small businesses is not necessarily seen in the abandonment of plans to grow businesses or death of businesses themselves, but, rather, in the slowing or decrease in hiring of employees and cutting of employee hours; according to a Gallup and Wells Fargo survey of small business owners, conducted in 2012, 48% of small business owners point toward "potential healthcare costs" as a reason for not hiring more employees [http://www.gallup.com/poll/152654/health-costs-gov-regulations-curb-small-business-hiring.aspx]. While the ACA may have caused a slowing or ceasing in small business hiring, 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). Furthermore, 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/]. </onlyinclude>