Why Do We Want to Penalize the Employers? Did You Read the Legislation?

With all due respect C., I'm not that worried about my employer.
I see them pi$$ away more money on any given day than I'll make in a year.

Employers of all sizes need to be removed from the medical insurance business. This was, in the not so distant past, an idea that a company came up with - to offer subsidized medical insurance to entice people to work for them instead of other companies. This was when competition for workers was high. Soom most had to follow suit to stay competitive. What does most employment have to do with individual medical care??

I have worked as an HR Manager and I've seen the money spent on a team of people to negotiate contracts and manage this "benefit" and most employers would like to wash their hands of this and get on with doing the business the company is in business to do.

Also, fewer and fewer of us are working for corporations (or unions) and are working as consultants, temp workers, working PT, or are self-employed in some way, and many of us are changing jobs so frequently that having to change insurance every time is a pain in the a$$. So already, employer-provided insurance is only available to a shrinking percentage of our population.

All this legislation means is that I, as a single, self-employed person, can be part of a "group" insurance plan. I am sick of paying high premiums for a plan with a $6000 annual deductable, just so I don't have to worry about going bankrupt if I suddenly get sick or injured. And I'm one of the few 50 year-old women I know that is even "insurable" cuz I'm lucky enough to be healthy and have no "pre-existing conditions". And let me tell you, most insurance companies consider being female a pre-existing condition!

We can speculate all we want about what we think WILL happen but none of us know until this legislation is put into place. So far, I know many happy people from the few pieces that have already taken effect (young people who can be on their parents plans, children who can't be denied, etc.).

And, businesses aren't hiring because the demand for their products and services is low, and "we don't know what regulations are coming next" is a lame excuse. If customers were lined up at their doors, they'd be hiring people like crazy. Demand is low because so many of us are unemployed and just trying to make ends meet, including paying for (if we can) impossibly expensive health insurance!

I no longer own a small business. Obamacare didn't cause me to quit. It was other things, but if I was still in business, I'd be shutting it down the month before I had to be subject to Obamacare. I only employed 8 people, so only 8 people would be unemployed. But multiply my situation by a million small businesses and you begin to get the idea.

If Obamacare isn't repealed or changed, unemployment will be in the high teens or low 20% range whe it hits small business.

I haven't read the bill, but neither did the President before he signed it. He had people that told him SOME of what was in there. When Congress found out what was in the Obamacare legislation, they drafted a bill and passed it saying Congress, the president and the Judicary was exempt form all of the Obamacare provisions.

If Congress and Obama thought it was such a great idea, WHY did they exempt themselves from all its provisions?

Good luck to you and yours.

No, I haven't read the legislation. I know what I do know about the law from reading about it and watching Fox news (thats right, I don't watch liberally biased mainstream media- I go to Fox when I want FACTS).
Anyway, my husband owns a small business. We only employ 2 people year round- we hire more seasonally. We do not currently offer insurance because it is too expensive and our employees would rather have more money in their paychecks than go with the pricey policies that we could offer them. We pay out the nose for our own private insurance. I am going back to school in the spring so I can eventually get a job that we can get benefits through (among other reasons). That being said, I do not support Obamacare. If it goes into effect, we will be paying the fine because it is cheaper to do that than pay for the insurance. Kinda defeats the purpose of "affordable" care for "everyone", huh?

Is national health insurance 'socialized medicine’?

No. Socialized medicine is a system in which doctors and hospitals work for and draw salaries from the government. Doctors in the Veterans Administration and the Armed Services are paid this way. The health systems in Great Britain and Spain are other examples. But in most European countries, Canada, Australia and Japan they have socialized health insurance, not socialized medicine. The government pays for care that is delivered in the private (mostly not-for-profit) sector. This is similar to how Medicare works in this country. Doctors are in private practice and are paid on a fee-for-service basis from government funds. The government does not own or manage medical practices or hospitals.

The term socialized medicine is often used to conjure up images of government bureaucratic interference in medical care. That does not describe what happens in countries with national health insurance where doctors and patients often have more clinical freedom than in the U.S., where bureaucrats attempt to direct care.

You really read it huh?

* By no later than 2014, states will have to set up Small Business Health Options Programs, or "SHOP Exchanges," where small businesses will be able to pool together to buy insurance. ("Small businesses" are defined as those with no more than 100 employees, though states have the option of limiting pools to companies with 50 or fewer employees through 2016; companies that grow beyond the size limit will also be grandfathered in.)

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the exchanges would ease small business insurance costs, albeit only marginally: premiums in the small-group market are forecast to fall between 1% and 4% under the exchanges, while the amount of coverage would rise by up to 3%.

* For the next four years, until the SHOP Exchanges are set up, businesses with 10 or fewer full-time-equivalent employees earning less than $25,000 a year on average will be eligible for a tax credit of 35% of health insurance costs. (Companies with between 11 and 25 workers and an average wage of up to $50,000 are eligible for partial credits.)

The tax credit will remain in place, increasing to 50% of costs, for the first two years a company buys insurance through its state exchange. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that the tax credit will affect about 12% of individuals covered via the small-group insurance market, lowering their cost of insurance by between 8% and 11%.

Technically, there is no employer mandate. Employers with more than 50 employees must provide health insurance or pay a fine of $2000 per worker each year if any worker receives federal subsidies to purchase health insurance. Fines applied to entire number of employees minus some allowances.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/22/smallbusiness/small_busin...

I actually read three drafts and then gave up. I have read some of the current law, probably more than most people in Congress but if I read it all I will need glasses and who will pay for it. :p That last bit was a joke, people are far to serious today.

I digress....

My ex's family owns a small business, 70 employees so the law will hit them. They will not change but only because that is the type of employer they are and they can afford to do so. There is a reason they have an entire file drawer full of resume's from people still hoping to be employed. They want the best and they treat them like the best. They have the margin to do it. Very few small businesses do.

I don't think my employer will. They are doctors, despite how they are sometimes portrayed they do care and wouldn't do that to their employees. We know first hand what the government does to health care, we have to fight them every day. We fight for our patients, so their bills are paid. Granted that is how we pay our employees (ya know bills being paid) but make not mistake we do it for the patients because there is no way they could fight Medicare or Medicaid.

I too wonder how many people have actually read it, better yet understand it.

Oh my god Denise would you like me to tell you everything my ex's employees stole from his business. It would take me a few hours to type but it is an interesting read.

C., after the dot com collapse we, the family, didn't get our bonuses or raises, all the employees did. See above about the thieving buggers! I am glad they did it but I only wish their employees appreciated what they did.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS POST, you hit the nail on the head!!!!!

And for the ignorant people who say Tea Partiers LIKE MYSELF want to see people die, I have a question for you: How did the Tea Party become so powerful to run the government? Last time I checked the Tea Party does NOT have a seat in the White House or Senate or House of Reps.

I grew up living in the slums of Chicago, I lived my entire childhood on the welfare system, so not sure where the blatant ignorance comes to play that only the wealthy are the Tea Party & want to see people die.

You all must be watching CNN the Communist News Network & drinking the Kool Aide

What our company pays in benefits is crazy expensive. That being said we have WONDERFUL health insurance. Ours is considered a "cadillac". We pay 80% of the cost for the employees for medical, we pay 100% dental and vision amounts. We also provide basic life insurance. Our deductiable is $800 person; $1600 family and then 100% paid. Yep its great! I don't know how much longer we will be able to afford to do this.

We are a privately held company so we have a little bit more flexibility but I don't know how much longer we will be able to afford to provide this benefit and that is what it is a benefit.

I have read the bill and have talked with a lot of people since I work in HR and benefits.

There is currently no mandate for any employer to offer health care coverage of any kind, so why do any employers do it? Because employees want it, and they will choose an employer who offers insurance over one who doesn't.

This legislation doesn't repeal the laws of supply and demand- if insurance is what it takes to attract the employees a company needs, they'll offer it. If there is a viable alternative, like employees buying their own coverage on the open market, they may not offer it anymore because it doesn't attract people anymore. And that would effectively uncouple employment and health insurance.

Exactly what this country needs is socialized national healthcare, but it will never happen in this horrible political environment, with tea party members prefering to let people die than provide healthcare for someone who couldn't, or wouldn't afford healthcare.