I empathize with the small business owner, as it's a tough place to be in. Conversely, offering insurance that is more than cut-rate might, just might, bring her lower turnover and higher quality stylists. And it may turn out that it's cheaper for her to drop coverage all together to let her employees use the insurance exchanges when they come online in 2014, which is her prerogative, and might even be a better decision for her employees. As far as the contractor, there is no excuse, and he typifies one of the main reasons for the mandate. One day, he's going to slip and fall, or find himself suffering ill-effects later on due to his occupation. As a self-employed person, there is no workman's comp to cover lost wages and/or medical bills. Traveling via car should be covered by his car insurance, unless he has also determined that he's too invincible for that as well. If that is the case, when he's pulled from the twisted metal he will still be brought to an ER, where they will treat him without expectation of payment. Even if he was able to pay his way after that without bankrupting himself, those injuries could preclude him from health insurance without the ACA. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The only freeloaders on the system are those who foolishly believe they will never need to use medical services and never are responsible enough to protect themselves, and instead bankrupt their families, ruin their businesses, and pass the costs onto everyone else in the form of higher premiums and rates.

I want everyone to have healthcare, but I'm afraid this is going to hurt our economy. Its going to cost those small businesses too much money to keep their doors open. Already social security and now health care, have more people on the system than paying into it. I say instead of small businesses paying more for health care, I say the government now needs to cut back on giving money to foreign countries and put that money into the the new health care plan so businesses don't have to pay more out of their pockets.

Mark my words, the new healthcare plan will hurt our economy. It will put too much strain on small businesses and small businesses can't already afford health care. I want everyone to have healthcare, but also, it shouldn't be up to the businesses to come up with the money to cover everyone's healthcare. As a small business owner, now I have to raise my prices of goods to compensate for the increases dollar for health care. Instead of revamping the whole healthcare system, the government should of went after the insurance companies and make it so they can't increase their prices every year. Let people legally buy prescription drugs from other countries to promote competition.

Based on this new healthcare tax, employees will stop hiring and/or will limit it's benefit offering. If people think the government can manage healthcare, go you visit a county or federal clinic. Agree with covering pre-existing conditions. Giving more control to the government and companies like UnitedHealthcare is a very bad idea.

Don't forget Medtronic moving operations overseas due to the medical device tax. Will people remember this when Klobuchar is up for election this fall?

Talk about legislating from the bench! This violates our most precious document-the Constituion. Only Congress is allowed to impose a direct tax and then it must be by amendment to the Constituion. This country has become lawless and the future of it severely compromised! The income tax was an amendment to the Consitituion. So much for the intelligence of those who are leading the country into darkness.

So who funds that "risk" that Mr. Wiley is willing to take? When he falls off a ladders, needs an emergency appendectomy, or any of the myriad other health issues that might arise, who will pay his medical bills if he doesn't have insurance? The hospital. Which in turn drives up the cost of care for everyone. By choosing not to insure himself, Mr. Wiley has the potential to drive up the cost of healthcare for everyone. I'm glad he'll no longer have that choice.

@nonona - "Only Congress is allowed to impose a direct tax..." They did. Congress passed Obamacare. The law didn't just make itself up.

Good luck with that Mr. Wiley. Let me know how it works out after 10 years when the knees start wearing out and the over-the-counter drugs no longer work. When new symptoms start cropping up. I Started out at $241 a month for $3,000 deductible and wound up paying $341 a month for $6,000 deductible. Ten years is a long time to go without any coverage, even for a young person. Obamacare only spreads the pain out. Your Republican friends need to get off of their assets and help us design a health care SYSTEM that keeps costs reasonable. They need to help us design a system that prevents repeat malpractice offenders from treating anybody. They need to help us design a system that keeps pharmaceutical companies from gouging us on new drugs and limiting the supply of generics once their patent runs out.

"It could double the cost of my health insurance," Peyton said. "That's probably going to mean a price increase, which I haven't done for nine years." Kudos to you Ms Payton for helping your employees with their health insurance premiums. While you were charging $9.00 for a haircut I was paying a full time barber $18 - 21 because he was 'making a living' and supporting 3 children. Everyone is going to have to raise their prices and the people who pay these increased costs are going to be your everyday consumer. Until the Republicans get off of their assets and help design a better health care SYSTEM, Obamacare is going to have to do. The Republicans said they could do it 3 years ago but have done nothing but whine about Obamacare for the past 2 years.