With the loss of key Affordable Care Act tax credits on the horizon, some Wisconsin small business owners and their employees are scrambling to find health care as the final open enrollment deadline approaches.
About half of adults with ACA Marketplace plans own or work at a small business or are self-employed.
Enhanced ACA tax credits created under the American Rescue Plan Act expire at the end of the year unless Congress intervenes. That seems unlikely after House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Tuesday he will not call a vote on the extension.
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The prospect of the loss of the tax credits comes as hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites are already seeing higher premiums on Marketplace plans. Open enrollment for the Marketplace ends Jan. 15. The deadline to join or change plans for coverage beginning at the start of the year was Monday.
Kara Pitt-D’Andrea is the executive director of Renaissance Child Development Center in Milwaukee. With her connections across southern Wisconsin, she’s become a health care liaison for small business owners. Since September, Pitt-D’Andrea has spoken with dozens who say they are stressed about insurance cost increases.
She says many don’t know how they will afford health care. One of her colleagues is a single mom running a business that supports day cares across the country. Her premium had jumped from $800 to $1,200 a month, according to Pitt-D’Andrea.
“In order to, you know, be able to afford her life for her children and the business she goes without health care,” Pitt-D’Andrea said.
The day care director says she can’t afford to provide insurance for her 22 employees. Most of her workers receive health care through Medicare, BadgerCare, Veteran’s Affairs or the ACA Marketplace.
“We’re simply not able to charge the amount of tuition that would cover payroll, rent, all of the expenses to run a day care and to provide the astronomical cost of major medical,” Pitt-D’Andrea said.
Pitt-D’Andrea said she thinks parents are also feeling the burden of rising day-to-day costs. In just three months, she has seen nearly a quarter of her families switch to cheaper, part-time day care plans. It’s a shift she says is significant to this year.
“(They’ve said) they’re trying to reduce child care costs with the concern that prices around them are rising, including health care,” Pitt-D’Andrea said.
Earlier this week, Wisconsin Democrats held a press conference with small business owners from Main Street Alliance.
Macy Buhler owns a child care center with 30 employees. ACA subsidies helped her provide them with quality insurance. With the tax credits under threat, she’s worried about retaining and obtaining staff.
“They’re exposed to everything under the sun and I need to keep them healthy as a business owner,” Buhler said.
In a series of posts on X, U.S Sen. Ron Johnson argued that “doubling down” on the ACA by extending subsidies would not fix the health care system. He instead advocated for funding health savings accounts to restore free market competition and consumer choice.
Other Wisconsin Republicans in Congress have also indicated that they will not support extending the tax credits.
“I don’t know how to make them see that children and small businesses, families, our farmers all need the ACA subsidies,” Buhler said.
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