MyStateline.com - Clearing Up ObamaCare Confusion

News Article

By Unknown

16th District Congressman Adam Kinzinger and Director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Katie Mahoney talk to local business owners about what ObamaCare means for business. It's a topic that's generating a lot of confusion.

"They're so far behind in how to implement this thing they don't know what they're going to do. And the law I think was built to fail. Right now you have a lot of small businesses that are grappling with the reality that they're going to have to follow this law, but they don't, and frankly the federal government doesn't know how this is going to work out," explained Kinzinger.

He's talking about the employer mandate requiring most businesses to provide insurance, pay penalties or both. It's leading many to believe it could mean less hiring. Also, if an employee works more than 30 hours health benefits must be offered by law.

"They're taking full-time employees and making them less than 30 hours a week so they don't have to fall under these provisions," said Kinzinger.

Owner of Flanders Insurance Agency Les Reid fears the costs of just implementing the law.

"This law is yet another layer placed upon us, that's going to cause us to have to divert productive time to suiting up with additional government regulations," said Reid.

Democratic Congresswoman Cheri Bustos is urging business leaders like Reid to use her office as a resource to get questions answered.

"I think there are going to need to be legislative tweaks to this. I'm actually looking at the bill very thoroughly," said Bustos.

Something the Rockford Chamber of Commerce is doing too. Saying they'll offer accounting and consulting services to their members to clear up uncertainty.

"A lot of our members don't know how the law is to be implemented, what they're suppose to do under the law. And they're really looking for sources of trusted information," said Rockford Chamber of Commerce's Ryan Brauns.

Source