In the news

WCMU Public Radio News
By
Mike Horace

A Michigan non-profit is warning that repealing the national health care law could have some costly consequences for Michigan small businesses.

More than 120,000 Michigan small businesses would lose tax credits if the national health care law were repealed, according to a report by the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan, or PIRGIM.

The group says repealing the law would also lead to rate increases on the individual market.

"A repeal would raise premiums on the individual market, so for people who are buying their health insurance individually, separate from an employer, up to 20 percent by 2016," said Meghan Hess, a program associate with PIRGIM.

According to Hess, repealing the health care law would lead to higher costs for employers as well, which would lead to 6,000 fewer people being hired annually by the end of the decade.

"Rolling back the law would drive up employer health costs, which would lead to over 6,000 fewer jobs created per year," she said.

Hess said an outright repeal of the law would pull over $14 billion in Medicaid dollars out of Michigan's economy, and put 184 community health centers in jeopardy.

"And these community health centers help to fill gaps in access to care," Hess said. "They give more people the ability to seek preventative care, instead of going to the emergency room, which is another way we can help keep costs down in our medical system."

Other provisions in the law allow people under age 26 to remain on their parents health insurance. 

According to Hess, those provisions would be gone if the health care law was repealed.

PIRGIM, a non-profit non-partisan organization, said it based the report on data from the Congressional Budget Office, other government agencies, business groups and health analysts.

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