The Obamacare burden: compliance costs.

• Author: Tuccille, J.D.
• Position: Citings - Brief article

"COMPLYING WITH the health care law is costing small businesses thousands of dollars that they didn't have to spend before the new regulations went into effect," reports the Associated Press. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), a.k.a. Obamacare, will apply to all companies with 50 or more workers starting January 1, 2016, and requires owners to track staffers' hours, absences, and health insurance expenditures. The National Small Business Association (NSBA) says that compliance will cost, on average, $15,000 per business per year.

That has wide implications. One-third of the respondents to an NSBA survey were holding off on growth plans because of ACA costs. Smaller numbers planned more subcontracting or part-time hiring.

A National Federation of Independent Business representative told the Senate Finance Committee in March that, because of Obamacare, "62 percent of small business owners are paying higher premiums while only 8 percent say...