For too long, we had a health insurance market that worked very well for big insurance companies, but not so well for American families and small businesses. For many years, Americans watched their health insurance costs rise more rapidly than their wages. From 1999-2009, health insurance costs and premiums skyrocketed, leaving employers in the difficult position of deciding whether they could continue to maintain coverage for their workers. And small businesses paid an average of 18 percent more for the same health coverage as large businesses. The Affordable Care Act was signed into law to give hard-working families and employers.
