Is this more bad news for President Obama?
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) stated in a new report that Obamacare will cause health premiums to soar for about two-thirds of Americans who happen to work for small businesses. The higher premiums will affect roughly 11 million Americans and it is estimated an additional six million individuals will notice reductions in their premiums.
The report was released Friday, but has only gained attention this week after Republican lawmakers pointed to yet another report to show the negative consequences associated with the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
“Therefore, we are estimating that 65 percent of the small firms are expected to experience increases in their premium rates, while the remaining 35 percent are anticipated to have rate reductions,” CMS wrote in the report
The study authors and business owners say the additional costs will be paid for by younger and healthier workers. Older and sicker workers, meanwhile, will notice their premiums diminish. “They are driving prices up for the healthy population and increasing rates for younger people … and forcing them out of the market,” stated National Association of Health Underwriters President Tom Harte.
Several small business groups say this is just another report noting more bad news for the country.
“It’s officially time to change the name of Obamacare to The Unaffordable Care Act,” NFIB Director of Federal Public Policy Amanda Austin told Fox Business News. “Perhaps the biggest takeaway is the lengths that the Administration will go to hide the runaway costs for a health care law that is neither affordable nor workable.”
A January survey from the National Small Business Association (NSBA) found that 91 percent of small businesses saw a spike in per-employee costs at their newest renewals.
Republicans are pouncing on the data that continues to show what many GOP officials have been arguing since President Obama began his term in the White House. The key question is now: what’s next?
“The bad news keeps mounting and our nation’s best job creators are paying the price,” said House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) in a statement. “Earlier this month, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provided economic data that echoed what many small businesses have been telling us – that the health law is killing jobs and harming the economy.”
This report comes as the CBO projected Obamacare would shrink the economy by the equivalent of 2.5 million full-time jobs.
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