Here are five key ways the Affordable Care Act can benefit small employers and their workers:

1. SHOP Marketplaces: Currently, small businesses face premiums that are on average 18% higher than large businesses. On October 1, 2013, the new Small Business Health Insurance Options Program (SHOP) Marketplaces will be open for businesses, and small employers in every state will be able to shop for health coverage on a competitive marketplace, that brings unprecedented transparency to the market and gives small businesses the same purchasing clout as big businesses.
2. Reducing Administrative Complexity: SHOP Marketplaces include web portals that provide standardized, easy-to-understand information that will make comparing and purchasing coverage easier, and will simplify the administrative challenges that businesses often face when offering plans. Visit www.HealthCare.gov to learn more about the SHOP Marketplace and to get ready for open enrollment.
3. New Tax Credits: The small business tax credit helps small businesses afford the cost of healthcare coverage for their employees, and is already helping qualifying small businesses offset the cost of insurance by up to 35%. In 2014, this tax credit goes up to 50% and is available to qualified small businesses who obtain coverage through the SHOP Marketplace.
4. Improved Risk Pooling: The new SHOP Marketplaces will allow small groups to pool risks and reduce administrative complexity, thereby increasing their purchasing power and reducing costs for small businesses that want to provide coverage to their workers. Business can enroll starting on October 1, 2013, through their brokers, or directly through the SHOP Marketplace. Stay connected to the latest information on the Marketplaces by going to www.HealthCare.gov. 
5. Workplace Wellness:  The Affordable Care Act creates new incentives to promote workplace wellness programs and encourages employers to take more opportunities to support healthier workplaces. Effective for plan years after January 1, 2014, final rules allow the maximum reward to employers using a health-contingent wellness program to increase from 20 percent to 30 percent of the cost of health coverage, and the maximum reward for programs designed to prevent or reduce tobacco use will be as much as 50 percent.

To help provide small business owners with the resources and information they need, the Obama Administration recently launched Businesss.USA.gov/healthcare, a one-shop where employers of all sizes can go for customizable information about how the law impacts them, based on the size, location and future plans for offering coverage. And, the Department of Health and Human Services launched a call center specifically to serve the needs of small businesses interested in the SHOP Marketplace. This call center (1-800-706-7893) is a new resource to help business owners get information to make the right decision for their bottom line and their employees. It’s open Monday-Friday from 9 AM- 5 PM, with representatives available to help in English and Spanish.

The Small Business Administration has also teamed up with Small Business Majority to offer a weekly webinar series designed to educate small business owners about what the healthcare law means for them. To sign up for a weekly Thursday Webinar before open enrollment starts on October 1, 2013, visit: http://www.sba.gov/community/blogs/community-blogs/health-care-business-pulse/new-dates-affordable-care-act-101-webinars. 

Organized by the National Small Business Association (NSBA), the group at the White House flew in from over 20 states and represented a broad cross-section of industries. The typical small business owner in the room employed 50 people, generating around $10 million in annual revenue.

As Alan Krueger, the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, wrapped up his remarks on the state of the economy, the President stopped by for a surprise visit.

According to Todd McCracken, President and CEO of NSBA, the small business leaders were “delighted with the event and the President’s visit. He had a great deal of comfort with a broad range of issues that affect small businesses, from economic and tax issues to the specifics about things such as patent policy and small business innovation funds.”

On the sequester itself, the President noted how important getting a big deal in place along the lines of what he offered the Republicans in Congress is to the overall economy and the success of our small businesses. He thanked them for their leadership and for being engines of job growth in their communities.

In addition to the President and Alan Krueger, the group also heard from Marie Johns, Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration, Todd Park, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Boris Bershteyn, the General Counsel and former head of the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), Brian Deese, the Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, and Patrick Hidalgo, Deputy Director of the White House Business Council.

According to McCracken, the meeting was productive. “People thought the meeting was substantive – not politicized – and felt that there’s a sincere desire to getting these issues resolved.”
 

The tax code and creativity are not commonly linked in the minds of most people. Not so for Jenny Hines, President of Hines and Company Accountants, located in Knoxville, Tennessee.  “I was always interested in taxation not simply because of the planning and number crunching,” says Jenny, “but because that planning required a certain level of creativity.”

After graduating from the University of Tennessee with a Masters Degree in Taxation, Hines went to work for one of the largest CPA firms in the country.  But after watching many of the firm’s small business clients unable to afford its services, she decided to strike out on her own.  “There was an attitude at the large firm – and it certainly wasn’t everybody, but still – that was ‘How little work can we do, and still charge the client?’ People and their businesses were too often treated like commodities." 

So in 1990, Hines founded Hines and Company. Her mission was simple: provide outstanding professional services and excellent products for clients at a reasonable price. The company now provides tax, auditing, and accounting services for a diverse range of clients in the Knoxville area. “I wanted to create an atmosphere where people feel like coming to work, and are proud of what they do.  Let’s be fair to our clients, and do the work well – I want every one of our employees to be happy when they walk in the door, and every one of our clients to be happy when they walk out of it.” 

While owning her own firm has presented many challenges, Hines and Company is thriving. Hines projects that she will add two more positions over the next year.  Those numbers could look better with the American Jobs Act.  According to Hines, the payroll tax cuts and expensing provisions in the President's plan to create jobs will "provide tremendous savings for us and allow us to potentially invest in new computer equipment."  More than that, according to Hines, these provisions will help her company attract new clients by freeing up the capital small businesses in the area have to invest. "It really changes the game for folks because it changes purchasing power – for a tax consulting service like ours, it might mean that more small businesses could afford our services.”

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