How Obama Care will affect Small Businesses’
A small business is a business that is privately owned and operated, with a small number of employees and relatively low volume of sales. However depending on the industry and loopholes this could include companies with anywhere between 1 and 250 employees. Obama Care creates the Small Business Health Options Program or SHOP, a part of each States Health Insurance Marketplace, where small businesses with fewer than 50 full-time employees can shop for group health plans starting October 1st, 2013. Taxes and tax credits are based off of the number of full-time equivalent employees (FTE) and their average annual wages not solely on the number of full-time employees. Obama Care provides small businesses with affordable insurance options, cost assistance and increased buying power via the SHOP exchange. Since small businesses with fewer than 50 full-time equivalent employees can use the SHOP to get better deals on employee insurance, but aren't mandated to do so, it's safe to say small businesses will not be hurt by Obama Care, but will in fact benefit.
The smaller the businesses the better the tax breaks. The smallest employers are not only exempt from any potential fine for not providing insurance, if they do or want to provide insurance to employees, they can get tax credits to help do that. This will be in effect now for companies with fewer than 25 employees and wages below $50,000 each. If the business offers insurance and pays at least half the employee health premiums, they can receive a tax credit of up to 35% of their contributions. After 2014, the tax credit goes up to 50 percent if the business buys coverage through the insurance exchange. Here's one of the greatest things for small business owners: they can afford health insurance for themselves! The Kaiser Family Foundation surveyed large and small businesses this fall for their regular Employer Health Benefits Survey. Their findings for small business owners were that one in four small business owners is uninsured, roughly the same as for non-elderly adults generally. An estimated 60% of small business owners now buying