Poll: Small businesses back 'Obamacare'

WASHINGTON, June 14 (UPI) -- Half of the respondents in a recent survey of small business owners said they prefer that the U.S. Supreme Court leave the Affordable Care Act mostly intact.

The bill, signed into law in 2010, could be upheld, struck down or modified by the country's high court.

A business advocacy group, Small Business Majority, said a recent poll of 800 business owners in Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Texas and Virginia showed strong support for the law.

Fifty-percent of the respondents indicated they would like the Supreme Court to leave the bill, known in some circles as Obamacare, mostly upheld. Concurrently, a third of the respondents indicated they would like the court to cancel the healthcare program that many Republicans deem too costly.

By an 8-to-1 majority, respondents indicated they would use their state's online insurance exchange program, while a 2-to-1 majority indicated they would like their state to set up an insurance exchange program.

The insurance exchange program is one that allows owners of independent businesses to join a larger risk pool.

Small Business Majority said 49 percent of entrepreneurs indicated their interest in buying insurance through the Affordable Care Act would increase when a tax credit for small businesses offering insurance becomes available to small business participants.

Small Business Majority said the survey was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. The results have a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.