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Charleston,
SC
-
U.S.
Senator
Tim
Scott
(R-SC)
released
the
following
statement
on
the
President
signing
the
Protecting
Affordable
Care
for
Employees
(PACE)
Act
into
law.
Scott
sponsored
the
Senate
version
of
the
bill
(S.
1099),
with
Congressman
Brett
Guthrie
(R-KY)
introducing
the
House
version
(H.R.
1624).
"With
the
PACE
Act
quickly
signed
into
law,
we
have
taken
a
great
step
forward
in
protecting
small
and
mid-sized
businesses
from
the
harmful
effects
of
Obamacare.
I
want
to
thank
my
House
colleague
Representative
Brett
Guthrie
(R-KY)
for
his
important
work
on
the
PACE
Act,
and
all
of
our
cosponsors
for
their
support.
I
am
pleased
we
were
able
to
stop
the
growth
of
Obamacare
and
block
implementation
of
this
harmful
rule.
I
remain
committed
to
a
full
repeal
of
the
health
care
law,
and
will
keep
working
to
find
solutions
that
put
doctors
and
patients
in
charge
-
not
the
federal
government."
Prior
to
passage
of
the
PACE
Act, the
Affordable
Care
Act
called
for
the
definition
of
the
state
based
small
group
markets
to
change
from
50
to
include
employers
with
up
to
100
employees
on
January
1,
2016.
This
change
would
have
required
many
small
and
mid-sized
businesses
to
be
subject
to
different
rating
rules
and
requirements,
with
the
potential
of
increasing
the
health
insurance
premiums
for
small
businesses,
their
employees
and
their
families.
According
to
a
recent
report,
if
the
small
group
definition
had
moved
to
100,
premiums
could
have
increased
by
approximately
18
percent
for
a
majority
of
the
mid-sized
employers. As
a
result,
many
employers
may
have
chosen
to
self-insure
instead
of
remain
in
the
small
group
market
because
those
employers
would
have
no
longer
been
subject
to
the
various
requirements
of
the
small
group
market.
This
could
have
further
increased
the
premiums
for
those
left
in
the
newly
expanded
risk
pool.
The
PACE
Act
is
backed
by
a
coalition
representing
small
and
mid-sized
businesses,
including
the
U.S.
Chamber
of
Commerce,
the
National
Retail
Federation,
the
National
Restaurant
Association,
the
National
Federation
of
Independent
Business,
and
has
bipartisan
support
from
state
regulators
and
health
policy
experts.
Senator
Scott
serves
on
the
Senate
Health,
Small
Business
and
Finance
committees.
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