Survey: MO small-business owners favor health care reform

About 45 percent of Missouri small-business owners favor upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with little or no change, according to a June 14 survey conducted by business advocacy group Small Business Majority.

The survey polled 800 small-business owners in eight sample states: Missouri, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Texas and Virginia. Roughly half of those polled want the act upheld with little or no change, 34 percent want it overturned and 16 percent want a major change, according to a news release.

In Missouri, 33 percent of small-business owners polled said they want the Supreme Court to overturn the health care reform.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, was signed into law by President Obama in March 2010. The Supreme Court is expected to hand down a ruling Thursday on the constitutionality of the law, which is being challenged in the case National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius.

The act requires every American to have health insurance or pay a fine, expands preventive care covered by insurance and prohibits private insurers from rejecting people with pre-existing conditions.

On Sept. 28, 2011, the NFIB and state attorneys general filed the case, arguing that Congress lacks the power to mandate individuals to buy a good or service. The government has defended the individual mandate - the health care act requirement that requires every American to purchase health insurance.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard three days of oral argument in March over the constitutionality of the health reform act, the longest amount of time devoted to a landmark decision since the cases Miranda v. Arizona and Brown v. Board of Education. If the court strikes the individual mandate from the reform act, the NFIB said the remainder of the law will be in question.

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