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The Affordable Care Act Impacts: Cost, Freedom of Choice, and Small Businesses
English 147
3/30/15

The Affordable Care Act Impacts: Cost, Freedom of Choice, and Small Businesses

The affordable care act is the worst piece of legislation to be passed since the EPA regulations. Romney says it very well: “The right way to reign in healthcare costs is not by applying more government and more controls and making it more like the post office, it's by making it more like a consumer-driven market.”(Paragraph 1) If health care was a consumer driven market or an open market, Americans in general wouldn’t have all these underlying problems we have today. The negative impact on small businesses, the rise of health care costs, and our freedom of choice being infringed upon is ---- finish this sentence. Health care should not be regulated by the government, but available to all through an open market. Since the Affordable Care Act has been active in the United States it has had a major impact on small businesses. It has significantly reduced the number of jobs and has also reduced employees income. According to Sally Pipes (2014) who wrote an article on Forbes.com, “On average, employees who work a full year for a business with 50-99 employees lose $935 annually due to ACA regulations, while employees of businesses with 20-49 employees, on average lose $827.50 annually” (Paragraph 4). So in other words not only are small businesses losing employees, but the employees that have stuck around are losing more annually. Sally also goes on to say, “The labor force participation rate is already at its lowest point since 1978. Just 62.8 percent of able-bodied adults are working or looking for a job” (Page 2 Paragraph 4). All in all, the Affordable Care Act has hurt the economy and also hurt the growth of small businesses.

Based on statistics compared to before the Affordable Care Act and since the Affordable Care Act has started, healthcare costs have risen significantly. The Affordable care act was actually brought into law on March 23, 2010. From 2010 and 2012 health care spending had risen by “$8,953” (Obama Care: Before and After, 2015). Part 1 Paragraph 10. “Between 1950 and 2011, real GDP (gross domestic product) per capita grew at an average of 2.0% per year, while real national health care expenditures per capita grew at 4.4% per year.”(Obama Care: Before and After, 2015) Part1 paragraph 11. The National health care expenditures doubled what the GDP was with a total of 2.4% per year. It seems that the Affordable Care Act is only affordable to those in a certain tax bracket or have a certain amount of income, not everyone can afford these prices. “According to historian, healthcare expert, and former New York State Lieutenant Governor Betsy McCaughey: “90% of the difference in per capital health care spending [between the United States and other countries] is due to higher incomes in the U.S. Wealth, not waste, is the cause” (Obama Care: Before and After, 2015) Part 8 paragraph 1. According to these numbers no one should be in favor of the Affordable Care Act.

When it comes to the Affordable Care Act people either really like it or they really hate it. The people who really hate it think that it infringes on their freedom of choice or their freedom at all. America was founded on the aspect of freedom. The freedom to choose their own religion, their own