The University of Georgia’s Small Business Development Center reports that small businesses make up more than 99.6% of all businesses in the state of Georgia. These enterprises employ slightly less than half of the state’s workforce. In Atlanta, 97% of Black-owned businesses are small businesses or sole proprietorships.
They face shared difficulties in gaining access to capital, contracts, skilled staff and updated operational functions, and overcoming systemic racial barriers to growth and expansion.
Small businesses across the state are now under a new, potentially devastating threat to their viability: expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits (EPTCs) that are part of the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.
The Marketplace’s EPTCs make health insurance coverage for small businesses and their employees affordable. If Congress does not act by the end of 2025, the tax credits will expire, effectively ending a lifeline for small business owners and their families in Georgia who otherwise cannot afford to provide employer-sponsored healthcare plans.
A 2024 US Department of Treasury analysis found that small business owners and self-employed individuals are three times more likely than other Americans to get their health insurance through the ACA Marketplace. The Marketplace provides flexible and affordable coverage options for both employers and their employees, particularly when an employer-provided option is not possible. These options have made a tremendous difference: in 2022, the uninsured rate of small-business employees and self-employed individuals dropped to record lows. A loss of enhanced tax credits would halt progress.
Forced to choose between paying thousands of dollars more in premiums or forgoing basic needs, astounding numbers of Georgians would lose their health coverage. Lack of healthcare disproportionately affects Black and underserved communities and further escalates the disparity in health outcomes and mortality rates.
The Urban League of Greater Atlanta Entrepreneurship Center works with partners in the public and private sectors to build capacity and provide access to economic opportunities — including contracts, capital, and talent — for small and minority owned/Black businesses every day. The facts clearly show that these firms are the backbone of our state’s economy and regional and local communities.
Further, if the tax credits expire, not only will thousands of Georgians lose their healthcare services and health coverage, but the state will lose more than $2.01 billion from its GDP (gross domestic product) revenue each year for the first 10 years, and 39,000 jobs per year for the first 10 years, according to the National Federation of Independent Business. After 2035, the projected loss to Georgia’s GDP could increase to $4.16 billion each year, with 75,000 jobs lost per year,
With so much to lose, we should expect all of our Congressional elected officials to boldly support the expansion of the enhanced premium tax credits that directly benefit the families and small businesses they serve. And taking it further, why wouldn’t they also champion the expansion of federal government contracting and access to capital programs that intentionally support small and minority business growth?
If this makes sense to you, I implore you to Act NOW. We are not powerless in this state we call home. We have strength in numbers and our voices matter. Let us create a broad coalition of business owners and communities of people who rely on them to unite and fight for what is right. Join me and the Urban League to protect small businesses and our economy: Contact your Congressional and Senate Representatives and urge them to renew the enhanced premium tax credits.
The success of any business and the health of all Georgians depend in part on their continued access to affordable health care coverage. If Congress allows the EPTCs to expire at the end of 2025, the consequences will be swift and severe for those most in need. Our legislators must take a stand for our state and for the small businesses and individuals who make up the economic engine of Georgia’s economy.
