Many small businesses struggle to afford health insurance for workers, but a new tax credit meant to help them seems to be turning into a disappointment.
Although opinion polls show the credit is one of the most popular ideas in President Barack Obama’s health care law, only 170,300 businesses out of a pool of as many as 4 million potentially eligible claimed it in 2010.
A recent government report found the tax credit time-consuming to apply for and not rewarding enough to be financially attractive.
That’s put the Obama administration in the awkward position of asking Congress to help fix the problems by allowing more businesses to qualify and making it simpler to apply. But Republicans who run the House say they want to repeal what they deride as “Obamacare,” not fix its flaws.