Now that Congress has passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and is now waiting for President Obama to sign it into law, many small business owners are wondering, “How is this bill going to affect my bottom line?”

For starters, the bill does not require any business to purchase insurance for its employees, but does encourage small businesses to provide coverage.  For small businesses that do provide it’s employees with coverage, they will receive a tax credit worth 35% of a business’s hearth care costs through 2013, and half of those costs for the next two years, provided firms buy the insurance on the new insurance exchange that will begin operating in 2010.  Small Business Majority founder John Arensmeyer, predicts that the cost for insurance for small businesses would drop 20% to 30%.