SMALL BUSINESSES AND HEALTH CARE REFORM

The Baggers whine that HCR will gravely injure small businesses but the truth may be quite a bit different.  We don't have the hard numbers yet but this article from Bloomberg News may be a precursor of the real world effects of HCR.

How Health Reform Benefits Small Employers
As opponents eye repeal, John Arensmeyer says insurance tax credits and state health insurance exchanges will reduce costs

By John Arensmeyer
January 11, 2011, 11:40AM EST
Bloomberg Businessweek

...the impact of the small business tax credits—a key component of the law that took effect in 2010—and even implies that the effect has been negative. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, many insurers saw a dramatic increase in small group plan enrollments in 2010. America's largest health insurance company, UnitedHealth Group (UNH), enrolled 75,000 new small business employees; Coventry Health Care (CVH) added 115,000 enrollees; and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City attributes its 58 percent increase in small business coverage specifically to the tax credits, noting that 38 percent of the new business came from companies that had not previously offered insurance.

The health-care law helps small business owners provide benefits by offering them tax credits for up to 35 percent of their health insurance costs (rising to 50 percent, beginning in 2014).