For Small Businesses, Health Coverage Options Improve and Costs Remain Stable
Substantially more small-business owners and their workers have health insurance coverage today than before the Affordable Care Act, new Commonwealth Fund–supported research shows, mainly because of the subsidized coverage options made available in the individual market and the expansion of Medicaid in many states.
The new analysis, conducted by Mark Hall of Wake Forest University and Michael McCue of Virginia Commonwealth University, also finds that premium and claim costs have remained stable in the small-group market. And while small-group market enrollment has declined since 2014, this is simply a continuation of a trend that began before the health law’s implementation, the authors say.
Critics of the ACA had warned that the law could particularly hurt small businesses by damaging the small-group insurance market. The new study demonstrates that this has not been the case. Hall and McCue warn, however, that new federal changes could harm the small-group market, particularly rules promoting the purchase of short-term health plans and association plans, which are not subject to ACA standards and could siphon off healthier enrollees.
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