Changes

One important concern with the Patient Protection and [[Affordable Care Act]] by the media and the bill’s adversaries is that “Obamacare” will kill [[Small Business]] [http://www.investors.com/liberal-study-finds-obamanomics-killed-the-american-entrepreneur/]. The visible effect of Obamacare on small businesses is not necessarily seen in the abandonment of plans to grow businesses or death of businesses themselves, but, rather, in the slowing or decrease in hiring of employees and cutting of employee hours. According to a Gallup and Wells Fargo survey of small business owners, conducted in 2012, 48% of small business owners point toward "potential healthcare costs" as a reason for not hiring more employees [http://www.gallup.com/poll/152654/health-costs-gov-regulations-curb-small-business-hiring.aspx]. Still while the ACA may have caused a slowing or ceasing in small business hiring, the actual harm of Obamacare regulations and mandates to small businesses still depends heavily on small business size because the effect of Obamacare on small businesses varies so vastly between firms of with different composition compositions and size within sizes in their workforces (i.e. number of full time employees, average wages, state where the business is operatedof operation).

The SBA has established a summary of the size guidelines for small businesses to qualify "as a small business concern for SBA and most other federal programs" [https://www.sba.gov/contracting/getting-started-contractor/make-sure-you-meet-sba-size-standards/summary-size-standards-industry-sector] (500 employees for mining and manufacturing businesses or an annual receipt of $7.5 in average annual receipts for non-manufacturing firms), but these small business standards still vary from industry to industry. Also, while The United States has almost 6 million small businesses that fall under the SBA small business size classifications, but 90% of these small businesses employ fewer than 20 people [http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-small-business/]. The ACA regards a small business with fewer than fifty full-time equivalent employees.

Furthermore, although while the cost of providing health care insurance has assuredly risen since the ACA'S enactment, health insurance premiums had already been steadily increasing for many years before its enactment [http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-small-business/] [http://jhppl.dukejournals.org/content/36/3/539.short]. </onlyinclude>

Despite all of the backlash the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, has received for its perceived potential destruction on small businesses, for the most part, small businesses with under 50 full time equivalent employees are not greatly burdened by the ACA. In fact, companies with fewer than 50 employeesFTE, which make up a large portion of small businesses, are not penalized at all for not providing health care to their employees.

If employers with fewer than 50 FTE find themselves unable or unwilling to accommodate the rising costs of health care, they can simply opt out of providing employer-sponsored health insurance. Those who do decide to provide employer-sponsored health insurance will face rising premiums and increased regulationsregulation, as a result of the ACA's minimum plan requirements for comprehensiveness and affordability in coverage quality.