Implementation of Health Care Reform Law

On January 21st Senate Democratic leadership continued to praise early benefits of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and sent a letter to national tax preparation companies encouraging them to “take all necessary steps” to ensure that small businesses can claim the tax credit for health insurance they provide to employees. Despite the administration’s efforts to educate businesses, a non-profit that oversees the small business market, the Small Business Majority, released a study showing that only 43 percent of eligible businesses were “familiar” with the new provision in the ACA.

While opponents of the ACA have been gearing up in court, supporters have also been mobilizing. On January 21st numerous ACA supporters including hospital associations, health care advocacy groups, health care economists, attorneys general from certain states, and Democratic lawmakers filed numerous briefs in support of the Obama administration’s position that the ACA’s individual mandate is constitutional. The conservative Thomas More Law Center has appealed an earlier ruling upholding the mandate to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.