The Affordable Care Act — Good For Enterpreneurs?

In today’s New York Times, there was an interesting article entitled, “Affordable Care Act Could be Good for Entrepreneurship.”

In the article, the author cited a new study from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Urban Institute, and Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute that showed how the Affordable Care Act is expected to produce a sharp increase in self-employment and entrepreneurship.  That’s because the inability to get health insurance has been a major obstacle for people considering working for themselves.  Starting in 2014, the new health care law remove that obstacle by creating exchanges that will make health insurance available to everyone.  The author also cited (1) a Journal of Health report that showed how entrepreneurship increased among those over 60 once they became eligible for Medicare, and (2) a working paper from the Upjohn Institute that showed how self-employment increased in New Jersey once their law was changed to make health insurance more available.

This author makes an interesting point that is often overlooked in the debate about the Affordable Care Act.  You can read her article here.