TITLE:
The Survival of Small Businesses Purchasing Health Insurance under the Affordable Care Act
AUTHORS:
Donald W. White Jr., Charles Needham
KEYWORDS:
Affordable Care Act (ACA), Developmental Disability Agency, Exchanges, Full-Time Employees, Job Lock, Mandate
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.10 No.3,
April
6,
2022
ABSTRACT: Grounded in the theory of strategic organizational
change (SOC), the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the
strategies small business owners use to provide health insurance coverage under
the ACA and remain in business. Semistructured interviews were conducted in
Northeastern Ohio with 3 business owners in
the physical and mental health care industry. The data-collection
process included semistructured interviews and business documents. Data
analysis involved cluster and coding analysis. Member checking was crucial for
strengthening the trustworthiness and credibility of interpreting the responses
obtained from participants. The themes that emerged from the study included the
importance of cost associated with health care plans, high employee turnover
rates, and significant insurance company participation. Specifically, for the
small business owner to purchase affordable health care required decisions that
encompassed resources and employee reactions to change. The study results may
contribute to social change, with information benefiting small business owners
in providing health insurance coverage to full-time employees. In addition, the
study results may reduce the number of uninsured individuals. Small business
owners could use the data from this study to help small business owners reduce
health care insurance costs.