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Small Biz, Families Pay the Price for ObamaCare

June 19, 2012

Rising Premiums and Skyrocketing Healthcare Costs Under ObamaCare are Making Life Harder for Working Families and the Small Businesses 

  • A new survey reveals that health insurance agents are seeing increased healthcare costs and much higher premiums in the future, and a huge majority believe ObamaCare will make the country worse off.
  • Small businesses also expect ObamaCare to increase their costs and make it more difficult for them to provide insurance for their workers.
  • The bad news about ObamaCare’s rising price tag continues to pile up, but Democrats continue to defend ObamaCare.

A new survey reveals that health insurance agents are seeing increased healthcare costs and much higher premiums in the future, and a huge majority believe ObamaCare will make the country worse off:

68% OF SMALL BUSINESSES AND 36% OF PEOPLE BUYING OWN INSURANCE WORK THROUGH A BROKER: “Through their work arranging health insurance for millions of people each year, agents and brokers interact with insurance companies, individuals, and businesses, both at the time coverage is purchased and throughout the year. In recent Kaiser surveys, 68 percent of small businesses and 36 percent of people purchasing health insurance on their own reported using a broker to buy their policy.”(“Survey of Health Insurance Agents,” Kaiser Family Foundation, 6/18/2012)

48% OF INSURANCE BROKERS EXPECT HEALTHCARE PREMIUMS TO INCREASE BY 11% OR MORE IN 2012 FOR INDIVIDUAL/SMALL GROUP MARKET: (“Survey of Health Insurance Agents,” Kaiser Family Foundation, 6/18/2012) 

33% MORE THINK HEALTHCARE PREMIUMS WILL GO UP 6-10% IN 2012:(“Survey of Health Insurance Agents,” Kaiser Family Foundation, 6/18/2012) 

73% OF HEALTH INSURANCE BROKERS DISAPPROVE OF OBAMACARE:(“Survey of Health Insurance Agents,” Kaiser Family Foundation, 6/18/2012) 

72% SAY OBAMACARE WILL MAKE THE COUNTRY WORSE OFF: (“Survey of Health Insurance Agents,” Kaiser Family Foundation, 6/18/2012)

Small businesses also expect ObamaCare to increase their costs and make it more difficult for them to provide insurance for their workers:

56% OF SMALLEST BUSINESSES SAY HEALTHCARE WOULD BE MORE EXPENSIVE UNDER OBAMACARE RELATIVE TO WHAT THEY PAY NOW:(“Access to Health Coverage and Attitudes on Health Reform: A Self-Employed Perspective,” National Association for the Self-Employed, June 2012)

SMALLEST BUSINESSES SAY THEY ARE UNLIKELY TO OFFER COVERAGE FOR EMPLOYEES: “[T]he self-employed will be required to purchase both more expansive and more expensive coverage. Even if the health care reform law does indeed lower coverage costs, over 65 percent of self-employed and micro-business owners are unlikely or unsure if they will be able to provide and pay for a portion of health coverage for their employees in the future.”(Kristie Arslan, “Skyrocketing Health Care Costs Hurt Businesses, Families and the Bottom Line,” Huffington Post, 6/13/2012)

57% OF SMALL BUSINESSES ARE “VERY” OR “SOMEWHAT” LIKELY TO DROP HEALTH COVERAGE FOR WORKERS: “Should employees begin to leave for an exchange, 26 percent of currently offering small employers are very likely to explore dropping their health insurance plans and another 31 percent are somewhat likely to do so.” (“Small Business and Health Insurance: One Year After Enactment of PPACA,” NFIB, 5/24/2012) 

1 IN 8 SMALL BUSINESSES HAVE ALREADY SEEN THEIR HEALTH COVERAGE TERMINATED DUE TO OBAMACARE: “One in eight small businesses told the National Federation of Independent Business that since the health law passed in 2010, their health insurer had either terminated their plan or notified them it is going to be eliminated. … Dennis said the NFIB was ‘not aware of any data that suggested’ insurers had dropped coverage of small businesses in such large numbers in years before the passage of the health law. For this reason, they felt confident the health law was the cause, he said.” (Bara Vaida, “Some Small Businesses Say Health Insurers Are Dropping Their Coverage,” Kaiser Health News, 7/25/2011) 

73% OF SMALL BUSINESS JOB CREATORS CITE OBAMACARE AS AN “OBSTACLE TO HIRING NEW WORKERS”: (Peter Schroeder, “Survey: Uncertainty, Gas Prices Slowing Hiring by Small Business,” The Hill, 4/16/2012)

NFIB STUDY: 250K JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY OBAMACARE’S HEALTH INSURANCE TAX, AND 150K OF THOSE COULD BE FROM SMALL BUSINESS:(“NFIB Research Foundation Study: Health Insurance Tax to Cost 125,000 to 249,000 Private-Sector Jobs,” NFIB, 11/9/2011)

The bad news about ObamaCare’s rising price tag continues to pile up, but Democrats continue to defend ObamaCare:

BROKEN PROMISE: “And everybody who’s looked at it says that every single good idea to bend the cost curve and start actually reducing health care costs are in this bill.” (Remarks By President To House Democratic Congress, States News Service, 3/20/2010) 

AFTER BROKEN PROMISE: “Finally, my proposal would bring down the cost of health care for millions — families, businesses, and the federal government.” (“Remarks by the President on Health Care Reform,” The White House, 3/3/2010) 

AFTER BROKEN OBAMA PROMISE: “THIS LAW WILL LOWER PREMIUMS.”(“Remarks by the President at the Families USA Health Action Conference,” The White House, 1/28/2011)

HEALTHCARE COSTS TO RISE 7.4% AS OBAMACARE TAKES FULL EFFECT:“In 2014, health spending growth is expected to accelerate to 7.4 percent as the major coverage expansions from the Affordable Care Act begin.” (Sean P. Keehan, Gigi A Kuckler, et al, “National Health Expenditure Projections: Modest Annual Growth Until Coverage Expands and Economic Growth Accelerates,” Health Affairs, July 2012)

OBAMACARE TO INCREASE HEALTHCARE COSTS BY $478 BILLION THROUGH 2021: “For 2011 through 2021, national health spending is projected to grow at an average rate of 5.7 percent annually, which would be 0.9 percentage point faster than the expected annual increase in the gross domestic product (GDP) during this period. During this period, the Affordable Care Act is projected… to add about $478 billion in cumulative health spending.” (Sean P. Keehan, Gigi A Kuckler, et al, “National Health Expenditure Projections: Modest Annual Growth Until Coverage Expands and Economic Growth Accelerates,” Health Affairs, July 2012)

OBAMACARE TO INCREASE PRIVATE INSURANCE PREMIUMS BY 4.1% IN 2014: “In 2014, growth in private health insurance premiums is expected to accelerate to 7.9 percent, or 4.1 percentage points higher than in the absence of health reform.” Sean P. Keehan, Gigi A Kuckler, et al, “National Health Expenditure Projections: Modest Annual Growth Until Coverage Expands and Economic Growth Accelerates,” Health Affairs, July 2012)

FAMILY HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS ROSE 9% IN 2011, WITH OBAMACARE PLAYING A ROLE: (Julie Appleby, “Cost of Employer Insurance Plans Surge in 2011,” Kaiser Health News, 9/27/2011)

EMPLOYEES’ SHARE OF PREMIUM COSTS HAS ALREADY INCREASED 9.3% FROM 2011 TO 2012, $235 PER PERSON: “Employees’ share of premium costs increased 9.3% between 2011 and 2012, with the dollar burden rising from $2,529 to $2,764.” (“Performance in an Era of Uncertainty,” Towers Watson/National Business Group on Health Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Healthcare, March 2012)

BY A MARGIN OF 8 TO 1, EMPLOYERS EXPECT OBAMACARE TO INCREASE COSTS: “By a margin of 8 to 1, those who believe Health Care Reform will trigger a cost increase outnumber those who believe Health Care Reform will create savings. Yet the survey responses reflect that few employers have started to reframe employee expectations relative to Health Care Reform.” (“The Health Care Reform Survey: 2011-2012,” Willis, March 2012)