Obamacare s a Job-Killer: Small Business Owners Speak Out

In a recent interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) made clear that she has “no regrets” about passing the job-killing government takeover of health care that is raising costs and jeopardizing coverage for millions of Americans, and making it harder to create jobs. While Democrats may have “no regrets” about the disastrous impact of ObamaCare, small business owners across the nation clearly regret their inability to grow, hire new workers or plan for the future with all of the regulatory uncertainty and job-killing mandates being handed down from Washington:

• “[Omaha Friendly Services owner Paul Fraynd] and Adam Kalyn, the company’s manager, also said they have been fearful of what the newly passed health care legislation could mean for the firm.  They said they believe the Republicans will alter the bill in ways that will help. ‘I think (the health care bill) very much hurts small businesses,’ Kalyn said. … ‘It’s very adversarial to small businesses right now.’” (Omaha World-Herald, 11/7/10)

• “Cliff Lindholm III, president and CEO of Passaic-based Falstrom Co., which makes precision metal products, said changes to the health care bill are a top priority. He said his health care insurer, hiking the cost of Falstrom’s coverage by 30 percent, recently blamed the increase in part on the health care bill’s requirement that insurers cover dependents until age 26. … [L]indholm added, congressional gridlock ‘could provide certainty about nothing happening. So that would, in essence, be a positive for business, because they don’t see a potential for new rules and regulations coming down from Washington.’” (The Bergen Record, 11/7/10)

• “Ron Ruff, president of Winfree, Ruff & Associates …  said he walked away with many concerns for his business. ‘It’s a very complex process and it’s going to be, on the surface, looks like, expensive for small businesses,’ he said. ‘As the years click off, there’s a lot of things that are going to start applying to small businesses. Are they going to have resources to keep up with this?’  Ruff said he is concerned about potential penalties that could be assessed to his business for not fully complying with the new [health care] guidelines. ‘My concern is a lot of these regulations aren’t written yet. Weekly, monthly, we hear new things come out. It’s a big unknown in the future,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot of unknowns; that’s the scary part about this.’” (The Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, 11/7/10)

• “Rankin, the president and owner of EBC Carpet Services Corp., finds fault with a particular provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that mandates all companies to issue tax forms, known as 1099s, to any individual or corporation from which they purchase goods or services worth more than $600. … ‘The lawmakers are going to have to find a way to pay for this thing that they’ve created, but is it going to help? No,’ said Rankin… ‘There are going to be a lot of businesses that are small and mid-sized that will hurt from this.’ … ‘We’ve got it coming and going,’ he said. ‘A portion of some of my workers’ jobs will now have to go toward taking care of this.’” (The News-Journal, 10/31/10)

• “Miami Valley small business owners fear they could find themselves buried in additional paperwork stemming from a new tax rule attached to the Health Care Act.  … That means local start-ups and mom-and-pop shops with limited bookkeeping resources would have to collect tax ID information and file 1099 forms for every gas station or office supply store they spend $600 with to support their business.  ‘There has got to be a better way,’ said Ed Fritz, owner of Centerville Coin & Jewelry Connection. ‘It’s just creating a big headache for small business owners.’” (Dayton Daily News, 10/25/10)

Last week, Speaker Pelosi tweeted about the “urgency … of protecting” ObamaCare, proving once again that Democrats are in denial about the message millions of Americans sent to Washington last Tuesday.

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Republicans are listening to the American people, and – in stark contrast to Democrats – are focused squarely on the urgent need to protect small businesses and promote their ability to put millions of unemployed Americans back to work.  In an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) reiterated Republicans’ commitment to repeal the job-killing ObamaCare law and replace it with better, common-sense solutions:

“This health care bill will ruin the best health care system in the world and it will bankrupt our country.  … “We are going to repeal Obama Care and replace it with common sense reforms that will bring down the cost of health insurance. … “First and foremost, this is about the greatest health care system in the world. And secondly, let’s not forget, this is also about jobs. And if you look at all of the requirements on employers, you can understand why they’re not hiring new employees, because we’ve raised the cost of employment. “Beyond repealing Obama Care, we’re going to do everything we can to stop this bill from being implemented, to make sure it never happens.”

REPEALING AND REPLACING OBAMACARE WITH BETTER SOLUTIONS.  In an op-ed in today’s USA Today, Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), the top Republican on the House Ways & Means Committee, explains the disastrous impact ObamaCare is having, and will continue to have, on health care costs and access, especially for millions of America’s seniors. Rep. Camp also lays out specific proposals that will lower costs and provide better patient protections, in line with the GOP’s Pledge to America. Republicans will continue fighting to repeal ObamaCare and implement all of the common-sense reforms laid out in the Pledge to America.

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