What about this Healthcare Legislation and small businesses?

I work for a very small company. My boss has stated that this bill was crafted by individuals with no knowledge of running a small business and the ramifications have not been properly assessed. We have not been significantly affected at this time but I am wondering what the future holds. Anyone out there with good information about the true impact this legislation will have on the small business?|||You losing your job so he wont have to pay for your health insurance|||Here are the basics. Overall fairly good for small businesses since it should lower premiums by 8 to 11% in the long run.





For small businesses, the effects of the now-passed health reform law include:





* By no later than 2014, states will have to set up Small Business Health Options Programs, or "SHOP Exchanges," where small businesses will be able to pool together to buy insurance. ("Small businesses" are defined as those with no more than 100 employees, though states have the option of limiting pools to companies with 50 or fewer employees through 2016; companies that grow beyond the size limit will also be grandfathered in.)





The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the exchanges would ease small business insurance costs, albeit only marginally: premiums in the small-group market are forecast to fall between 1% and 4% under the exchanges, while the amount of coverage would rise by up to 3%.





* For the next four years, until the SHOP Exchanges are set up, businesses with 10 or fewer full-time-equivalent employees earning less than $25,000 a year on average will be eligible for a tax credit of 35% of health insurance costs. (Companies with between 11 and 25 workers and an average wage of up to $50,000 are eligible for partial credits.)





The tax credit will remain in place, increasing to 50% of costs, for the first two years a company buys insurance through its state exchange. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that the tax credit will affect about 12% of individuals covered via the small-group insurance market, lowering their cost of insurance by between 8% and 11%.





* Insurers will no longer be able to set rates or exclude coverage based on pre-existing conditions, and can vary premiums only by geographic location, age, and tobacco use.





These restrictions, however, would not kick in until 2014. Going into effect immediately: a ban on lifetime limits on coverage, and on "rescission" (canceling policies already issued) except in cases of fraud.|||Currently or I should say before healthcare legislation was passed, health care was a benefit and not everyone gets all the benefits. A small business owner can and do hold back that benefit.