Changes

<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 into universal health insurance overage system, mandating all individuals to sign up for either privately or public funded health insurance. One important and commonly voiced concern with the Patient Protection and [[Affordable Care Act]] by the media and the bill’s adversaries is that “Obamacare” will kill [[Small Business]] [http://www.investors.com/liberal-study-finds-obamanomics-killed-the-american-entrepreneur/].

One important and commonly voiced concern with the Patient Protection and [[Affordable Care Act]] by the media and the bill’s adversaries is that “Obamacare” will kill [[Small Business]] [http://www.investors.com/liberal-study-finds-obamanomics-killed-the-american-entrepreneur/]. 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 . 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>

The United States has almost 6 million small businesses, and 90% of these businesses employ fewer than 20 people [http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-small-business/]. And largely, there is not significant evidence signaling that the ACA is devastating small businesses and startups with fewer than 50 full time equivalent employees.

Most of the harms of the ACA, thus, are passed onto larger companies - firms with larger than 100 FTE (full time equivalent employees) - but many of these larger corporations also already offer health insurance coverage for their employees. However, companies between 50 and 100 FTE, which are required by the ACA to offer health insurance coverage to their employees, are implicated in a slightly more complex way.

There remains a lot of uncertainty as to the specific effects of the ACA on small businesses because of the many delays and exemptions in the rollout process and implantation of the ACA’s mandates and provisions. By extrapolating from the status quo and general trends of the health insurance market, the ACA will most likely not turn out to be the “job-killer” or “enemy of small business” it was predicted to be. And largely, there is not significant evidence signaling that the ACA is devastating small businesses and startups with fewer than 50 full time equivalent employees.