Obama to promote health bill's business benefits

[babylonsister]

Obama to promote health bill's business benefits

By JULIE PACE
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is promoting his health care law's benefits for small businesses as he tries to rally public support for the massive overhaul.

During a speech Thursday in Portland, Maine - the second stop in a series of appearances to sell the reforms - Obama was to focus on the plan's short- and long-term impacts on small businesses, many of which have suffered during the economic downturn.

Under the plan, businesses with 25 or fewer employees with average annual wages of less than $50,000 will receive tax credits this year if they provide health care coverage to their workers. Those credits are expected to increase by 2014, with 3.6 million small businesses benefiting, according to Democrats.

Also starting in 2014, companies with up to 100 employees will be able to buy insurance through new state-based purchasing pools, or exchanges, with the goal of giving small businesses the same kind of purchasing power as employees at larger companies. Twenty-two million self-employed Americans will also be able to purchase insurance through the exchanges.

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