The bad news for small business in D.C.’s Obamacare plan

This editorial in WaPo was written by a deputy executive director emeritus for the Center for Science in the Public Interest...

http://www.cspinet.org/about/accomplishments.html

By January 2014, the states and the District must either establish their own health insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), combine with other states to form a regional exchange or have the federal government set up an exchange for them. The District has opted for the first option, and this month it moved ahead with a model unlike anything pursued by any state in the nation, with the exception of Vermont: On Oct. 3, the D.C. Health Exchange Authority’s executive board unanimously approved a plan that would abolish the marketplace as we know it for firms with 50 employees or fewer and force them to obtain health insurance for their workers from the government-run exchange. Companies and associations with 100 employees or fewer would have to do so by 2016.

What will this mean for small and medium-size D.C. employers? While it’s too soon to know all the impacts, it’s certain to curtail choice. If you manage a small organization, as I did for 31 years at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and you’re happy with your current insurer and insurance — too bad. You must switch to an untested, government-run system.

The damage caused by this highly disruptive proposition could be enormous, and the demand that small and medium-size employers accept that risk, sight unseen, is an overreach. Such an approach runs counter to the ACA’s essential promise of more — not less — choice.

We can make some educated guesses about other likely effects of this decision, based on developments beginning to occur. First, our choices will be further curtailed as carriers move to standardized, cookie-cutter coverage in the government-run exchange. Health insurers are already moving to conform plan offerings to meet ACA requirements — a process that will eliminate many desirable consumer options.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-bad-news-for-small-business-in-dcs-obamacare-plan/2012/10/12/3c1885d8-13e2-11e2-bf18-a8a596df4bee_story.html