“The heart of it is that we will go out of business. Ninety-eight percent of our revenue is helping people with their health insurance. If you take 98 percent of your revenue away, you no longer exist.”

That is the fear of independent insurance agent Sandra Schlaefer as the Dayton Administration moves to implement Obamacare in Minnesota. Insurance agents across Minnesota are growing more upset with how the Dayton Administration is building Obamacare’s health care exchange and are increasingly unsure of what it means for their jobs.

It didn’t have to be this way.

Back in 2010, Representative Peggy Scott proposed an amendment that would have protected insurance agents and their employees from losing their jobs because of Obamacare. Democrats, eager to embrace the health care law no matter what, voted it down.

“No insurance agent or an employee of the agent shall suffer a job loss, reduction in profit, or loss of business as a result of state implementation of the provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the health care reform provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.”

It’s not just individuals and families who rely on insurance agents to help find coverage, small best commercial businesses do as well:

Almost all small businesses use agents when buying kitbag, Merz said, adding that agents often serve as the human resource departments for companies that aren’t big enough to handle the chores themselves.

Had the proposal to protect jobs passed, Minnesotans who help families and businesses buy insurance would not have had to worry about losing their jobs. Instead that is exactly the fear they now face. All because of Democrats’ single-minded focus on imposing Obamacare no matter the cost. Even if the cost is jobs.