House Majority Leader Eric Cantor believes that the recent White House announcement of a one year delay in Affordable Care Act enforcement signals that there are too many components that do not work.
So he's turning to some of his Virginia constituents---small business owners to rally the administration and Congress to repeal it before its full implementation.
Some of those small business owners believe that they will bear the brunt of paying for the ACA tax provisions. Congressman Cantor says already businesses are adjusting to the mandate by scaling back their workforce or hours so that they're under the 50 employee/ 30-hour workweek threshold that would require them to pay employee health benefits. He says it's resulting in job losses and smaller paychecks. He proposes citizens be given several alternatives including health savings accounts which the government should promote.
But Kevin Wilson who manages a restaurant in Richmond's very busy Fan District says he has the ear of some of the owners there and they like many components of the ACA.
"Some of the things that have been so helpful--and this is the coffee shop owner--she and I have talked about this, is some of the tax breaks," he said. And he doesn't believe providing insurance to employees will cut into their business profits.
"At the end of the day it's the cost of doing business. If you want to attract and retain the most talented and the best employees, health insurance is one of those benefits that allows you to do that."
Wilson does think parts of the ACA might need some tweaking but says most people he's talked to may not understand it, and therefore are opposed to it. He believes the Obama administration has done a poor job of promoting its benefits and explaining how it works.
