Somebody asked about how the new health reform law (ACA, the Affordable Care Act) affects small business. This stuff isn’t hard to find, if you know where to look. Here’s a summary and citations to good sources.
First of all, businesses with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from the employer mandate. Most of the small business action is on tax credits. What follows is my own simplified paraphrase of the tax credit provisions as described in the Kaiser summary:
Provide a tax credit of up to 35% in 2010-2013, 50% in 2014-2016, nothing after 2016 of the employer’s contribution toward the employee’s health insurance premium if the employer contributes at least 50% of the total premium cost. The full credit will be available to employers with 10 or fewer employees and average annual wages of less than $25,000. The credit phases-out as firm size and average wage increases. Tax-exempt small businesses meeting these requirements are eligible for tax credits of up to 25% (2010-2013) and later 35% (2014-2016) of the employer’s contribution toward the employee’s health insurance premium.
If you want more details, read the short report from the Congressional Research Service (two pages of text, followed by a few handy tables).
