Andrew Puzder:
Why did the Obama administration earlier this month delay enforcement of the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate until 2015? The administration claims that it needed more time to get the mandate right. Some have suggested that politics—the concern that negative effects of the mandate might kick in before midterm elections in 2014—may have influenced the decision.
My own hope is that the administration acted because it is beginning to understand that portions of the ACA are unworkable despite its drafters’ good intentions. For example, if my experience running CKE Restaurants Inc. is a guide, there could be serious problems with the law’s financing mechanism.
We currently offer all of our more than 21,000 full- and part-time employees at our Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s restaurants access to health insurance. At least since 1999, we have offered all of our crew employees access to affordable plans with an annual benefit cap. We currently offer these plans under a waiver from the Department of Health and Human Services, as the ACA prohibits plans with benefit caps.
For restaurant general managers, we offer a more extensive plan where the company pays 60% of the premiums. However, only about 6% of crew-level employees and 60% of general managers sign up for health-insurance coverage.
These low participation rates surprised me. So over the past couple of years I have asked CKE employees what motivated their decisions. Our crew-level workers tend to be younger, and perhaps unsurprisingly some told me they were unconcerned about illness or injury. Others already had insurance through a spouse or parent. A significant number said they declined coverage because they could get medical treatment “for free at the emergency room.” Among those who had signed up, many said it was because they were concerned about developing a medical condition (perhaps due to a family history of illness), and then being unable to get affordable coverage due to this pre-existing condition.
These kinds of responses are why I question the ACA’s viability. The new law’s success depends on young, healthy people who are lower-risk signing up for health insurance to offset the costs of insuring individuals who are at higher risk. If predominantly high-risk individuals sign up, health insurance is going to be very expensive. Yet, even after the ACA takes effect, people will still be able to get medical care at the emergency room. Further, the ACA prohibits insurers from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions. In other words, individuals will no longer have much incentive to get health insurance as a hedge against the possibility of developing a medical condition.
Last year Obama ran some ads called “I believe,” ads.
One of them, from July 2012 had Obama looking at the camera and saying:
Starting Wed Obama will be giving three speeches in a week, all about this same thing.
This push is Obama’s attempt to frame the debate around his economic agenda and away from scandals.
Ahead of Wed. he sent out his army of advisors to reframe Benghazi, the IRS, his imperialist remake of ObamaCare and others as ”old and phony issues.”
But nothing will be NEW in these 3 speeches.
Just Obama claiming he ”doesn’t rest” but that he thinks about the middle class all the time.
When looked at impartially it is Obama’s own policies which have raised taxes on the middle class.
Obama’s agenda has dragged them down.
Obama’s redefinition of ”full-time work,” as anything over 30 hours/week has remade this economy for the worse.
Didn’t Obama say that jobs would be his priority in his first term as president? It’s five years later. Why should we believe him now?
Obama talking about job creation is like a first grader talking about brain surgery. If Obama had a city it would look like Detroit.
A little history is needed here. Obama’s original plan exactly mirrored the MA plan that Myth claimed he passed (which plan was in fact RAMMED down his throat after he vetoed it the first time). That plan would have essentially thrown the “insurance” companies out of health care. After much “lobbying” ( read: threats and bribery) of the US House, a bribed and treasonous Congress finally passed a (gutted) version acceptable to the insurers.
So, the employees potentially harmed here are unionized seasonal or part time employees whose health insurance is already somewhat more expensive to administer and whose health insurance currently doesn’t cover kids to age 26 or preexisting conditions. Seems like there are two choices: either the unions figure out how to afford the kids to 26 and preexisting conditions, or they let their members seek insurance outside the union. Surely being in a union is more than just having health insurance coverage (like collective bargaining, work protections, access to legal aid, etc.)
You’d rather insurance companies be allowed to drop you and let you die or have you sell your house to pay for medical expenses?
Get the facts;
http://obamacarefacts.com/cost…
Obamacare Health Insurance Rules Saved Customers $1.5 Billion Last Year: Study; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…
5 Ways Obamacare Will Succeed;
http://www.fool.com/investing/…
New York Says Obamacare Is Going to Cut Rates in Half for People Who Buy Their Own Insurance; http://www.motherjones.com/moj…
Do you have any original thoughts? Because that is quoted from a comment left at HuffPo in May:
And then you rip off another comment on that same page….you said:
And what does Katrin55 write in May?
Man….you are weak.
Mully @3 – ” If Obama had a city it would look like Detroit.” That was great!! LOL Thanks for the chuckle!!
@Mully: #3,
He does have a country, and he’s hell-bent on turning it into a Detroit.
Since ’62 Detroit has been under the control of government exploding/plundering liberals. It took those losers half a century to destroy that city. This Administration is doing its best to destroy the Nation in 8 years.
@Curt:
Way to rub This One‘s nose in that load he dropped. LOL
Yes, the way to reduce insurance costs is to get rid of competition and make everyone have identical policies. I sure am glad I have to carry OBGYN coverage.
@Curt: One word for it would be plagiarism.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plagiarism
“@This one:
You are a plagiarist and an idiot.
“You’d rather insurance companies be allowed to drop you and let you die or have you sell your house to pay for medical expenses?”
1) If an insurance company drops you, you have the option to sue them for it, i.e. to appeal to the government as a last resort. If the government-controlled insurance company drops you…?
2) Are you truly stupid enough to say that passing obamacare was the only possible solution to that?
3) Actual insurance is what prevents you from losing your house in case of catastrophic illness. Unfortunately, that will be illegal under Obamacare (after age 40, I believe). What exactly is this prohibition supposed to achieve?
I could go on for a while, but I have a job.