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Dayton
Business Journal...
Study:
Federal health care may cost
Ohio jobs
by Laura Englehart
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
The
private sector and especially
small businesses in Ohio could lose thousands of jobs when federal
health care
laws take hold, according to a new study.
The
2010 Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act, to raise revenue, includes a tax on health
insurance
premiums, structured as an annual fee on insurers, beginning in 2014.
According
to a study by the National Federation of Independent Businesses,
analysis shows
insurers will pass on the tax to consumers.
Ohio
is forecast to lose 2,500 jobs by
2021, with 1,600 in small business. The state also is predicted to have
$1.1
billion is sales lost for Ohio small business, according to the study.
Nationally,
employers, mainly small
businesses, to cut out 125,000 to 249,000 jobs in 2021.
The
tax is intended to collect about
$90 billion in revenue from insurers through 2020 in predetermined
annual
amounts. A government study released in March, included in the NFIB
study,
estimated the tax would raise health insurance premiums about 3
percent, or
$5,000 per family, in a decade.
If
the health insurance premium tax
takes effect, “the vast majority of small businesses currently
providing
insurance will see their premiums increase,” according to the NFIB
study.
Depending
on an assumed inflation rate
and considering a 3 percent hike in premiums, businesses could lose
150,000 to
249,000 jobs in 2021. Of those, 59 percent could come from small
businesses
(fewer than 500 employees).
If
premiums increase 2.5 percent,
results show fewer job losses: between 125,000 and 208,000.
Additionally,
the study said estimated
real GDP could decline to $22 billion to $36 billion lower than without
the tax
on insurers.
Many
people in the Dayton business
community have expressed skepticism regarding health care reform. In a
previous
Dayton Business Journal online poll, roughly 60 percent of respondents
thought
health care reform would negatively impact their business.
Read
this and other articles at Dayton
Business Journal
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