A study was conducted by the RAND Corporation for predicting how the employers react to the new health-care reform. The study revealed that when the Affordable Care Act is implemented, there would be health insurance for 95 percent of Americans which is 85 percent in September 2010. More small businesses would be involved in the coverage.
It was found that at that time, the health coverage was offered for 60.4 percent of employees at businesses with 50 or fewer employees. The study reported that there would be an increase to 85.9% once the reform is implemented.
The National Federation of Independent Business along with the Chamber of Commerce insisted that the health reform is a death knell for small business. One of them is concerned with the new requirements in the Affordable Care Act which increases the paperwork. A paperwork could be expensive, distracting, and overwhelming for a small business owner. Tax forms are issued by the businesses on every vendor providing at least $600 in services. It is meant to cut down on the tax cheats.
According to the second study, many of the smallest small businesses had already been offering health insurance to employees. According to the annual Employer Health Benefits Survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 59% of the small businesses provided insurance for workers in 2010. There had been an increase of 13 percent from 2009. This study was conducted between January and May 2010 and was much before the implementation of the Act. The percentage would further increase after provision of health reform tax credit to small businesses which offer coverage. However, the study reported that there would be higher deductibles, higher co-payments, and higher percentage of premiums. There was an increase of 3% in the premiums for job-sponsored family health insurance coverage in 2010. However, the share for the payment by the employees had jumped to 14%.