Consumers and small businesses in Iowa would face significantly higher insurance premiums and could experience coverage denials and price discrimination if efforts to repeal the federal health care law prevail in Congress or in the courts, according to a report released today by the Iowa Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).

Repeal would strip tax credits from more than 51,100 small businesses in Iowa. Over the long term, the cost of offering employer-based health insurance could jump by more than $3,000 a year under current law, according to the report, “The Cost of Repeal: Examining the Impact on Iowa of Repealing the New Federal Health Care Law.”

“In today’s economy, the higher costs that would result from repeal are the last thing that Iowa consumers and businesses need,” said Sonia Ashe of Iowa PIRG.

The report draws on data from independent sources, including the Congressional Budget Office, other government agencies, business groups and health analysts, IOWA PIRG said in a news release.

According to the report, repeal would:

• Increase premiums on the individual market by 20 percent or more for the same coverage by 2016;
• Lead to continued price discrimination and denial of coverage for the 23.7 percent of Iowa residents who have pre-existing conditions;
• Result in 3,796 fewer new jobs per year in Iowa by the end of the decade; and
• Pull $2.8 billion in federal Medicaid dollars out of the state’s economy and terminate establishment or expansion of 83 community health centers across Iowa.

The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a bill to repeal the new law outright in the
coming weeks.