Council for Affordable Health Coverage: Helping Small Business Afford Better Coverage Pushes Back Against Government-Run Healthcare

WASHINGTON, March 23 (TNStalk) -- The Council for Affordable Health Coverage issued the following statement on March 22, 2023:

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The Council for Affordable Health Coverage has long championed for small businesses to have the opportunity and ability to offer health insurance to their employees. Tomorrow's House Committee on Ways and Means hearing, "Health Subcommittee Hearing on Why Health Care is Unaffordable: The Fallout of Democrats' Inflation on Patients and Small Businesses," - the first healthcare hearing for the Committee this year - is Congress's chance to show the millions of Americans who work for small businesses that they are just as important and deserve the same level of healthcare as those who work for larger companies.

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The following statement should be attributed to Joel White, President of the Council for Affordable Health Coverage.

"Rising inflation has impacted everyone in the country, but no group more than small businesses. For far too long, lawmakers have ignored this vital sector of the economy and business owners' struggles to offer benefits to their employees. These 'mom-and-pop' stores want to provide the best health coverage for employees and their families but can't because Congress has refused to help them; meanwhile, billion-dollar industries like banking, automakers, and airlines are bailed out without a bat of an eye.

Time and again we have heard from Americans that they like and want to keep their health plan and support expanding employment-based coverage options. However, every year hardworking Americans' only options are safety net programs like the ACA (Obamacare), where they struggle with high deductibles. Or, they are pushed into Medicaid, which has little access to doctors and drugs, but costs taxpayers more and more each year. Those taxpayers include small business employees already struggling with the high cost of healthcare.

Congress should reinforce jobs-based coverage so that small businesses can offer affordable care to their employees. A good place to start is by reforming and expanding the existing small business tax credit and allowing small businesses to self-insure just like large employers."

Click here (https://www.cahc.net/s/Small-Business-Tax-Credit-101.pdf) for a one-pager on the small business tax credit.

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Original text here: https://www.cahc.net/newsroom/2023/3/22/helping-small-business-afford-better-coverage-pushes-back-against-government-run-healthcare