MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Small Business Owners, Healthcare Experts Available to Discuss Support for House Healthcare Legislation

For Immediate Release: 
Tuesday, May 14, 2019

With the U.S. House of Representatives expected to vote this week on a package of seven healthcare bills intended to stabilize the Affordable Care Act (ACA), small business owners around the country are available to discuss their support for this legislation as well as ways in which the ACA has benefitted their businesses.

Additionally, Small Business Majority Founder & CEO John Arensmeyer made the following statement on why the House action to stabilize the ACA is good for small firms: 

“We are relieved to see the U.S. House of Representatives taking action to protect the Affordable Care Act (ACA) so America’s small businesses can continue to have access to quality, affordable healthcare. This action is necessary in light of the Trump administration’s repeated and relentless attempts to destroy our healthcare system because these attacks are costing small business owners money.

The legislative package expected to come up for a vote this week would ban short-term health insurance plans, provide money for states to establish their own ACA marketplaces and fund the outreach and assistance programs that help customers sign up for healthcare plans through the federal ACA marketplace during the annual open enrollment period.

While Congress is trying to strengthen the ACA, the administration has been busy undermining the law. These harmful efforts include expanding short-term healthcare plans and slashing funding for ACA support, which has destabilized the healthcare marketplaces by decreasing the number of enrollees, which will ultimately increase costs for those who remain in the marketplaces. This is particularly damaging to small firms, since more than 5.7 million small business employees or self-employed workers are enrolled in the ACA marketplaces, and more than half of all ACA marketplace enrollees nationwide are small business owners, self-employed individuals or small business employees.

Without congressional attempts to bolster the ACA, costs will continue to rise and many small business owners and their employees will be priced out of the marketplace. If that happens, entrepreneurship in the United States will be badly damaged. After all, business owners and their employees can’t operate a small business if they’re too sick to work. For the good of America’s job creators and the overall health of our economy, we must do all we can to support the ACA. The bills expected to pass in the House of Representatives this week are a great start.”  

About Small Business Majority

Small Business Majority was founded and is run by small business owners to ensure America’s entrepreneurs are a key part of a thriving and inclusive economy. We actively engage our network of more than 58,000 small business owners in support of public policy solutions and deliver information and resources to entrepreneurs that promote small business growth. Our extensive scientific polling, focus groups and economic research help us educate and inform policymakers, the media and other stakeholders about key issues impacting small businesses and freelancers. Learn more about us on our website and follow us on TwitterFacebook and Instagram.

Press State: 
National