The new health law is 'pro-business,' Obama says

The Christian Science Monitor: During President Barack Obama's speech in Maine Thursday, he focused some of his comments on how small businesses fare under the new health law. "'This healthcare tax is pro-jobs, it's pro-business, and it starts this year,' Mr. Obama said. ... The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that tax credits to cover healthcare premiums would save small businesses $40 billion by 2019. But it's not clear that small-business owners are buying the argument. Their optimism has turned down in recent months." Polls say many small businesses plan on doing more hiring and spending more but at a slower pace (Belsie, 4/1).

ABC News: "Some small business organizations say the tax credit will help in the short term, but once it is phased out, firms will have to bear the full costs. 'When it comes to the tax credit, it's not going to hurt. The challenge is the tax credit is temporary. When it runs out small businesses will be left paying out the full amount,' said Molly Brogan, vice president of public affairs for The National Small Business Association, an advocacy group that opposed the health care law" (Khan, 4/1).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.