Burdens of PPACA on small business coming in to view
The regulatory cost the new PPACA (affectionately known as Obamacare) are now staring to be tallied, and the results are sobering.
For the last several years, many business owners have been ignoring the impacts of the PPACA on their businesses. It will never survive the Supreme Court challenge… oops. It will be overturned by Romney after he wins the election… oops again. Now the political drama appears to be over for the moment and business owners and managers are starting to assess what is really required to meet the terms of the new laws. While every business has unique individual circumstances, the overall impact on businesses in the USA are now starting to be tallied. Congressmen John Kline, chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee today unveiled the ObamaCare burden tracker.
The tool attempts to estimate JUST the administrative time spent for business to adhere to the terms of the law.ObamaCare, PPACA Burden Tracker Report
The Republicans Weigh In
“With many rules and regulations yet to come, these 127 million burden hours – many of them due to complying with new taxes – are just the tip of the iceberg,” noted Rep. Dave Camp, Ways and Means Chairman. “The regulatory tsunami generated by Obamacare is forcing employers to spend time and money complying with the dictates of a government takeover of health care instead of creating jobs and investing in our economy,” added Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman Rep. John Kline. “This is valuable time that could be used to run businesses, create jobs, and grow the economy,” noted Energy and Commerce Chairman Rep. Fred Upton. Estimates in the report conclude that the total manhours just to meet the law under the PPACA will be over 127 million man hours.
Of course these costs are just a small portion of the total burdens on employers for tax collection, immigration enforcement and a plethora of social engineering subjects. Employers are expected to meet copious rules and regulations and failure to do so subjects the employer to fines, penalties and lawsuits. The cost for business owners to meet the letter of the law and defend these financial claims grows larger with each new rule and regulation.
Just to comply with Obamacare, the Republican-run committees noted that the costs will be significant to small businesses that don’t hire lawyers and HR compliance officers like major industries. “Since many small businesses do not employ in-house lawyers and accountants, compliance costs are especially expensive and burdensome. Given the new demands of complying with the law, it is not surprising that over 70 percent of small businesses cite the health care law as a major obstacle to job creation,” said the report.
Remember folks, this is just for compliance with PPACA! Nobody was even discussing the other current mountain of burdens on employers for everything from COBRA to hiring discrimination risks. See some new ones here:
Coming Burdens on Businesses
PEOs see an Expanding Opportunity
For many years the Professional Employer Organization (PEO) industry has been assisting business owners understand and address the need to meet their regulatory obligations. Many risks for businesses can be mitigated with proper planning and implementation of HR compliance processes. In addition, in many cases the PEO is actually the party legally responsible for the compliance. NAPEO and other leasing PEOs have been hard at work developing an understanding of the compliance rules and creating models for advising businesses on their best options for meeting the letter of the law and engineering programs that provide affordable employee benefits plans at the same time. Contact StaffMarket for more information about engaging a PEO to meet your upcoming PPACA requirements.
