A majority of small business owners paid higher health insurance premiums last year, according to an industry-backed survey that raises doubts that Obamacare is helping small businesses.
A survey from the National Federation of Independent Business found that 63 percent of small business owners surveyed reported higher premiums from July 2014 to July 2015. Nearly 60 percent of those experiencing higher premiums reported increases of more than 10 percent.
The small business trade group said the results mean that the healthcare law is hurting the companies.
“The Affordable Care Act may be providing some relief to certain Americans, but small business owners are largely not among them,” said Holly Wade, research director for the NFIB.
About 8 percent of those surveyed reported a drop in premiums and 27 percent said prices remained the same.
Cost continues to be the main reason that small employers don’t offer insurance. The survey found of the 60 percent of the small employers who don’t offer insurance, half, or 52 percent, cite cost as the reason.
Only 3 percent of those surveyed were interested in the SHOP exchange marketplace, which was created for small businesses.
Small businesses did get some key protections in Obamacare, including tax credits that could be used to help employers provide coverage, said Sarah Lueck, senior policy analyst for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities think tank.
Small businesses have new protections under Obamacare as well, Lueck said. For instance, the law changed the rules for how insurers set small business’ rates.
“The system prior to the ACA was that small businesses could be facing higher premiums one year compared to the prior year because they had a significant health expense,” she told the Washington Examiner.
Now a small business can’t be rated up because of the industry they are in, she added.
The survey was of about 900 small businesses that range in size from two employees up to 100. Obamacare has had an impact on some larger businesses, as companies with 50 or more employees will have to provide health insurance to a majority of their workers starting next year.
Workers with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from the requirement.
