Judge Cites Small Business Owner Struggling With Uncertainty Caused By ObamaCare

Posted by Don Seymour

January 31, 2011

General

In his ruling declaring ObamaCare unconstitutional, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Vinson provided a key example of how the law is - as a group of 200 economists deemed it - "a barrier to job growth."

Judge Vinson references small business owner and plaintiff, Mary Brown, who indicated that the health care law is forcing her to consider “whether she can maintain her business,” or if she will be forced to “lay off employees” or “close her business” altogether.

Here is the full passage on pages 14 and 15:

“One of the individual plaintiffs, Mary Brown, has filed a declaration in which she avers, among other things: (i) that she is a small business owner and member of NFIB; (ii) that she does not currently have health insurance and has not had health insurance for the past four years; (iii) that she regularly uses her personal funds to meet her business expenses; (iv) that she is not eligible for Medicaid or Medicare and will not be eligible in 2014; (v) that she is subject to the individual mandate and objects to being required to comply as she does not believe the cost of health insurance is a wise or acceptable use of her resources; (vi) that both she and her business will be harmed if she is required to buy health insurance that she neither wants nor needs because it will force her to divert financial resources from her other priorities, including running her business, and doing so will threaten my ability to maintain my own, independent business; (vii) that she would be forced to reorder her personal and business affairs because, [w]ell in advance of 2014, I must now investigate whether and how to both obtain and maintain the required insurance; and lastly, (viii) that she must also now investigate the impact that compliance with the individual mandate will have on her priorities and whether she can maintain her business, or whether, instead, she will have to lay off employees, close her business, and seek employment that provides qualifying health insurance as a benefit.”

The case of Mary Brown backs up Speaker Boehner’s assertion that the “job-destroying health care law remains a major source of uncertainty for small businesses.” Click here and here for more examples of job creators speaking out against ObamaCare. And click here for the Rasmussen survey showing that a plurality of voters believes “repeal of the health care law will be good for the economy.”

The new House majority has already voted to repeal the bill and begun the process of replacing it with common-sense solutions that will lower costs and protect American jobs. Speaker Boehner urged Senate Democratic leaders to give repeal “an up-or-down vote,” and suggested that all parties involved in the lawsuit “request that this case be sent to the U.S. Supreme Court for a swift and fair resolution.”