The Wednesday edition of the Washington Examiner featured a story about a survey done by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce saying 74% of small businesses would have to cut jobs and hours due to the Affordable Care Act.

Riley Johnson is the state chairman of the National Federation of Independent Business. Although he has many questions about the new law, he doubts the 74% number in the story.

"I've been traveling throughout the state visiting with small businesses, and I can't say that 74% that are going to drop employees or cut hours," Johnson said. "I think they're concerned about the new law, they're thinking about how they're going to handle the situation."

"I conduct human resource seminars around the state every summer and the last one was up in Kalispell, and I open it up for questions," Johnson said. "For the next hour and a half there were questions about Obamacare, what it's going to do, how it's going to work. But, what they're really upset about is that the current administration has let big business off the hook for an extra year, while small businesses and individuals will still have to comply by 2014. The biggest question is 'how can I afford this'?"

Johnson said the Commissioner of Insurance for Montana, Monica Lindeen has offered to meet with him over the Affordable Care Act.

I'll be meeting with them on Friday," he said. "They're going to present, for lack of a better word, their dog-and-pony show all about Obamacare. They have promised me that if I like the program they have, they will present it to our membership. We have over 6,000 small business members, and I'll know more after Friday's meeting."

State Chairman of NFIB Riley Johnson

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