A recent survey conducted by Paychex, Inc, a leading provider of payroll services, indicated that 20% of small businesses said the Affordable Care Act is the highest on the list of priorities for the new administration to tackle.  In the survey, 15% classified employee pay laws, including minimum wage, to be addressed as well.

Small businesses have seen a bit of a hardship in recent years as healthcare costs have skyrocketed.  Interestingly, the Affordable Care Act has some requirements around businesses contributing toward health care based on a percentage of the lowest wage spent on eligible employees.  The combination of this along with the requirement to provide healthcare (for qualifying businesses) and increases in the minimum wage could factor into the choices businesses make in where their earned income is spent.  For some, this can put them into an issue of affordability for additional or even existing employees.  I do not believe overhauling Obamacare is an easy task.  In the meantime, we must look for ways to keep businesses operating as efficiently as possible and look for other cost-cutting strategies.