WASHINGTON, DC— Healthcare and Technology Subcommittee Chairwoman Renee Ellmers (R-NC) today held a hearing to examine if small businesses will be able to maintain their existing coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). President Obama has frequently said in reference to his health care reform law that if you like your health insurance you can keep it; however, recent reports suggest that this may not be the case.

“Despite the President’s promise that Americans will be able to keep their current healthcare plan, his own administration has predicted that over half of all employers and nearly 80 percent of small firms may be driven out of their current healthcare plans and forced to switch to higher-priced plans or penalized for dropping insurance altogether. The new healthcare law is not even fully implemented, yet the uncertainty created by it is already having a detrimental effect on small businesses and the economy."

“As we heard in today’s hearing, small business owners who want to expand and hire more workers can’t because they will need the capital to comply with the plethora of new healthcare regulations. In fact, some will even be forced to lay off workers in order to make ends meet."

“Reforming our healthcare system with common-sense principals that will lower costs and increase access is greatly needed; however, we must do this without a government takeover of healthcare filled with job-killing mandates. With unemployment on the rise, we must remove the mandates, taxes and regulations that are holding our job creators back.”

Today’s hearing coincides with the new study released Monday by the National Federation of Independent Business’ (NFIB) that found a majority of small business owners do not believe the new healthcare law will lower healthcare costs or reduce regulatory burdens. 

Click HERE for related hearing documents.

Notable Witness Quotes: 

Brian Vaughn, President of Nearly Famous, Inc. in Douglas, GA, said, “[O]ur plan has been to expand and open a new store by reinvesting some of our profits back into our business. Sadly though, given the harm the new health care law is going to reek on our business as well as the uncertainty and the pain caused by other regulations, I fear that neither of these dreams nor my plans to achieve them will be possible. In fact, my worry is that everything I have worked for will be for not and may be wiped out by this new health care law.”

William Dennis, Jr., Senior Research Fellow at the NFIB in Washington, DC, said, “By overwhelming margins, small employers who have some knowledge of the new law think that PPACA will not reduce the rate of health care (insurance) cost increases, will not reduce the administrative burden, will increase taxes, and will add to the federal deficit. They agree that PPACA will result in more people having health insurance coverage, but do not think it will yield a healthier American public.”

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President of the American Action Forum in Washington, DC, said, “The PPACA is a threat to the health of small businesses. Its heavy dosage of mandates and penalties will be a financial burden, and the law is riddled with hidden barriers to stronger job growth… Small business vitality is crucial to the economic fortunes of U.S. workers, and substantial new costs that curtail their hiring should be of concern to companies, workers, and policymakers alike.”

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For more information, please visit Congresswoman Ellmers’ website at www.ellmers.house.gov or call (202) 225-4531.

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Tom Doheny

Press Secretary

Congresswoman Renee Ellmers R-NC-2

Washington, DC