Whether Obamacare is good or not remains to be seen.  To lessen the pain for small employers, the IRS does provide for a small business health care credit.  If you are a small business you should take advantage.  

The IRS just issued proposed regulations governing Internal Revenue Code Section 45R which assist in understanding the details of the credit.

Although these are proposed regulations, employers may rely on them for tax years beginning after Dec. 31, 2013, and before Dec. 31, 2014. 

Here are some of the basics of the credit:

• An eligible small employer (“ESE”) may claim a tax credit for contributions to purchase health insurance for its employees.
• An ESE is an employer with 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees with average wages of no more than $50,000.
• The full tax credit, however, is only available only to an employer with 10 or fewer qualified employees.
• The contributions must be provided under a “qualifying” arrangement.

The tax credit can equal 50% of the aggregate contributions for premiums.  The proposed regulations go into detail about the requirements of the credit. 

Health insurance is certainly a huge expense, but this may dull the pain.