Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) was among a group of legislators who introduced a bill on Thursday that would mitigate potential harmful impacts of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer mandate on small businesses.
Alexander and Reps. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) and Diane Black (R-Tenn.) introduced the Certify It Act to ensure that the employer mandate does not hamper job creation and growth among small businesses.
The legislation, which was introduced in both the House and the Senate, would direct the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to collaborate with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct annual studies of the employer mandate’s impact on health premiums and jobs.
Under the law, if the employer mandate negatively impacted premiums or jobs, the mandate would be delayed the following year.
“Republicans want to repair the damage Obamacare has done and prevent future damage,” Alexander, the ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said. “I’ve heard from many small business owners with more than 50 employees who say Obamacare is making it hard to offer workers health insurance and, for some, hard to stay in business. This bill says, ‘let the facts speak for themselves – if premiums are going up and jobs are being cut – then delay the mandate.'”
Fincher said he has heard from working-class men and women in his district who are struggling to shoulder higher premiums under the ACA.
“This study will prove how Obamacare is impacting American’s healthcare costs and stifling small business job creation,” Fincher said.
Black said it’s important for Congress to reduce burdens on employers like the employer mandate so they can create jobs and grow the economy.