Under the new healthcare reforms, insurance exchanges are being established within each state so that uninsured individuals will be better able to find affordable policies, making experts wonder if the risk of self employment will therefore decrease to the degree that it will become appealing to individuals who had feared losing the health insurance they have through their employer.
These health insurance exchanges will be in operation by 2014. In July 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services released the exchange setup guidelines, leading more than half the states to have already started the creation of their own exchanges. In theory, once they are operating, nothing will stop an individual from finding affordable health insurance after leaving their current job, through which they had been provided health insurance.
As health insurance is one of the main concerns of individuals who are debating stating their own business, this important obstacle will possibly be removed from that path. As small businesses in other countries are helping to drive their economies – even through these troubled economic times – the Affordable Care Act may be an important step toward stimulating much needed economic growth here in the United States.
Chief executive John Harthorne of MassChallenge – a company that operates a yearly international competition for start-up businesses and assists other start-ups – said that “Most start-ups don’t succeed, but the few that do are the growth engines for the whole economy.”
That said, Republicans who intend to run for president are promising that they will eliminate what they are referring to as “job-killing Obamacare” as conservative judges call to doubt whether the law is – in whole or in part – fully constitutional.
