La. small business owners surveyed want health care exchange

Small business owners in Louisiana say they are in favor of setting up a health insurance exchange, which would provide an online marketplace where owners could pool their buying power when purchasing insurance coverage, according to the national advocacy group Small Business Majority. Insurance exchanges constitute a main component of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010. The Louisiana Budget Project says SBM surveyed businesses with 100 employees or fewer and found that 60% of owners would consider using the state exchange if it were available. “It would make health insurance accessible and affordable for some 350,000 people at little cost to the state,” says LBP, a left-leaning nonprofit that monitors and reports on state government spending and how it affects low- to moderate-income families. The LBP says the study contradicts “a highly misleading report” released by the Pelican Institute for Public Policy called “Five Reasons Not to Create ObamaCare Exchange”. The LBP’s full analysis can be found here. To read the statement from the Small Business Majority on the study, click here. The Supreme Court is expected to soon hand down a decision in the case against the healthcare bill that was filed by the National Federation of Independent Business and the attorney generals of several states, according to the Small Business Majority.