WASHINGTON (July 25, 2011) — Nearly two-thirds of small business owners expect their health insurance premiums to rise under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) without any corresponding improvement in care or insurance coverage, according to a new report from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).
“The PPACA tax credit acts almost exclusively as a windfall for small employers who currently offer health insurance rather than as an incentive to encourage its purchase,” the NFIB said in the survey it took of its members on the first anniversary of the passage of the new healthcare law.
“The full credit incents, but does not necessarily change the behavior, of only about 2 percent of small employers having fewer than 25 employees,” the survey said.
One year after passage of the PPACA, the NFIB said, 42 percent of businesses employing 50 or fewer people offer health insurance to their employees.
Virtually no small employer expects to either add or drop health insurance coverage in the next 12 months, though 20 percent expect to change their plans significantly either through decreases in benefits, increases in employee cost shares, or both, according to the survey.
Out of more than 5.2 million employers with fewer than 25 employees, only 245,000 are eligible for the full PPACA tax credit for offering health insurance to employees, the survey found, while another 1.165 million are eligible for a partial credit.