Shaheen Statement on Report Showing Importance of Affordable Care Act for New Hampshire’s Small Business Owners & Self-Employed Workers
**Report shows New Hampshire has one of the highest shares of small business owners relying on the Marketplace for healthcare coverage **
**Report also shows that small business owners and self-employed individuals were nearly three times as likely to purchase Marketplace coverage as other workers**
**SHAHEEN: “The ACA has been a boon for many entrepreneurs who have taken advantage of marketplace coverage to strike out on their own to make their business dream a reality.”**
(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee (SBC), released a statement after the Treasury Department put out a new report showing that the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Health Insurance Marketplaces are playing a crucial role in providing healthcare coverage to small business owners, entrepreneurs and self-employed workers. The report, which looked at Marketplace consumers in 2014, found that one in five consumers was a small business owner or self-employed, totaling 1.4 million Americans. Nearly 10 percent of small-business owners and more than 10 percent of gig economy workers received coverage through the Marketplace. In New Hampshire, 12 percent of self-employed workers and 13 percent of small business owners relied on the Marketplace for their coverage, totaling more than 15,000 people who could lose healthcare coverage if the ACA is repealed. The report also shows that small business owners and self-employed individuals were nearly three times as likely to purchase Marketplace coverage as other workers.
“This report shows that Republican leadership’s plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, especially without a replacement plan, is highly reckless for New Hampshire’s small business owners,” said Senator Shaheen. “The ACA isn’t a perfect law but there’s no question that it has made New Hampshire healthier. The ACA has been a boon for many entrepreneurs who have taken advantage of marketplace coverage to strike out on their own to make their business dream a reality. President-elect Trump and Republican leadership should work across the aisle to improve the law, rather than endanger this healthcare coverage that so many of New Hampshire’s entrepreneurs depend on.”
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