Train Wreck: Aetna Pulls Out Of NY Obamacare Exchange | Small Biz Squeezed By Health Costs - Mandates | Labor's ObamaCare Woes
All across the country, Obamacare is squeezing small business and sowing confusion at every level from Main Street to insurance companies to even the federal government.
The Weekly Standard noticed a report from WTVY in Alabama about a restaurant owner concerned that Obamacare could put him out of business. The anchor introduces the segment by pointing out, “The Affordable Care Act — it goes into effect in 2014 — people have described it as confusing and it’s expected to have a dramatic impact on small businesses.” According to the report, “Pofolks restaurant owner Ron Jones employs anywhere from 30- to-40 area residents on a full or part-time basis. Jones will cut down on full staff and hours to avoid paying employee health insurance. Jones says employee insurance implementation would put him out of business.” In an interview, Jones says, “We had 30 people and 15 or 16 of them were full time. Now I can only have four of the full time positions.” Taylor Davis, a 22-year-old employee at Jones’ restaurant, told the reporter that “She needs the job and worries that the new health care law will put her on the unemployment line.”
Yesterday, The Washington Post reported, “Health insurance costs for small business owners have been rising for more than a decade, and some are concerned the health care law will drive their premiums higher at an even faster clip. Many appear to be coping by passing some of the costs along to their employees. . . . In York, Pa., Fred Callahan’s small business is facing the same challenges. He was looking at paying about 30 percent more this year to maintain the same plan his small business had in 2012. He says his insurance carrier informed him that ‘they’re protecting themselves by increasing rates now in anticipation of certain requirements that they’ll have to meet under Obamacare.’ In order to protect his bottom line, Callahan says he could not afford another steep jump in his rates, which had already spiked in the previous two years. His company, Colony Papers, which provides packaging products, switched to a less expensive plan earlier this year, which came with a significantly higher employee deductible. ‘Obviously, it’s not been popular with our employees, but we’re trying to maintain as much coverage as we can afford,’ he said in an interview, adding that his healthcare plan has traditionally been useful in hiring a holding onto talented workers. Critics of the health care law say costs are rising for employers largely because costs are rising for insurers, who face new coverage requirements, limits on certain premiums, as well as a new tax on insurers — all of which they expect to be passed along, at least in part, to small firms in the form of higher premiums. ‘We keep hearing that from small businesses, that they’re premiums keep going up, keep going up, and now this thing’s coming along, and they’re going to go up even more,’ House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said earlier this summer in an interview.”
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports on insurers struggling with the requirements of the new law. “The first people to buy in are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries of the subsidies—among them, older customers—says Jim Whisler of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.'s U.S. health actuarial practice. An insurer would likely call that a ‘worse risk pool,’ he says. But because the marketplace created by the law is new, he says, there is no previous pricing or demographic information to help calculate rates. ‘There is no experience,’ Mr. Whisler says. . . . ‘Commercial insurers are taking a very cautious position,’ says Gail Wilensky, a former Medicare director and UnitedHealth board member. ‘They are very concerned the first-in population is much more likely to be the sickest’ and that next year's rates will prove to have been set too low, she says.” The WSJ also notes, “In one sign of the uncertainties, large insurers such as Aetna Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. are limiting their participation in the new marketplaces.”
Just yesterday, Reuters reported, “Aetna Inc, the No. 3 U.S. health insurer, said on Thursday it has decided not to sell insurance on New York's individual health insurance exchange, part of the country's healthcare reform. New York is the fifth state where Aetna has pulled its application to sell the plans that go on sale on Oct. 1 and into effect on Jan. 1, 2014. It has also reversed course in Maryland, Ohio, Georgia, and Connecticut, where it is based.”
And it’s not just small businesses and insurers struggling with Obamacare. According to The Washington Post, the Office of Personnel Management is warning federal employees about the consequences of joining an Obamacare exchange. Noting “continued confusion and concerns about how the so-called Obamacare legislation will affect health-benefits for federal employees,” The Post writes, “OPM noted a few drawbacks for those who join the healthcare exchanges voluntarily, saying they would be ending their participation in the federal-worker life insurance and retirement programs. The agency also said the government will not contribute toward health coverage for executive-branch employees who join the insurance exchanges voluntarily.”
And then of course there are the big unions, who cheered on Democrats to push through the law back in 2009 and 2010. In a story headlined, “Labor Leader Admits ObamaCare Woes,” Time reported yesterday, “The head of the nation’s largest federation of unions admitted ‘we made some mistakes’ in writing ObamaCare Thursday at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast in downtown DC. The head of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, said he was surprised that employers have reduced workers’ hours below 30-a-week to avoid an employer penalty scheduled to go into effect in 2015.”
To quote Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell “This law is a disaster waiting to happen. . . . Instead of encouraging [business owners] to create jobs and grow the economy, we’re hitting them with a brick of regulations. . . . [U]nion leaders are even expressing fears about the law driving up costs for their own health-care plans, making unionized workers less competitive. This is the worst time to be imposing tens of thousands of pages of new regulations and onerous taxes on the very families and businesses that can least afford them. We owe our constituents better, particularly those who are struggling the most. Look: Obamacare is just too expensive, and it’s not working the way Washington Democrats promised. That’s why Obamacare needs to be repealed. And that’s why I will continue to push for its repeal.”
Tags: ;Obamacare, trainwreck To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The Weekly Standard noticed a report from WTVY in Alabama about a restaurant owner concerned that Obamacare could put him out of business. The anchor introduces the segment by pointing out, “The Affordable Care Act — it goes into effect in 2014 — people have described it as confusing and it’s expected to have a dramatic impact on small businesses.” According to the report, “Pofolks restaurant owner Ron Jones employs anywhere from 30- to-40 area residents on a full or part-time basis. Jones will cut down on full staff and hours to avoid paying employee health insurance. Jones says employee insurance implementation would put him out of business.” In an interview, Jones says, “We had 30 people and 15 or 16 of them were full time. Now I can only have four of the full time positions.” Taylor Davis, a 22-year-old employee at Jones’ restaurant, told the reporter that “She needs the job and worries that the new health care law will put her on the unemployment line.”
Yesterday, The Washington Post reported, “Health insurance costs for small business owners have been rising for more than a decade, and some are concerned the health care law will drive their premiums higher at an even faster clip. Many appear to be coping by passing some of the costs along to their employees. . . . In York, Pa., Fred Callahan’s small business is facing the same challenges. He was looking at paying about 30 percent more this year to maintain the same plan his small business had in 2012. He says his insurance carrier informed him that ‘they’re protecting themselves by increasing rates now in anticipation of certain requirements that they’ll have to meet under Obamacare.’ In order to protect his bottom line, Callahan says he could not afford another steep jump in his rates, which had already spiked in the previous two years. His company, Colony Papers, which provides packaging products, switched to a less expensive plan earlier this year, which came with a significantly higher employee deductible. ‘Obviously, it’s not been popular with our employees, but we’re trying to maintain as much coverage as we can afford,’ he said in an interview, adding that his healthcare plan has traditionally been useful in hiring a holding onto talented workers. Critics of the health care law say costs are rising for employers largely because costs are rising for insurers, who face new coverage requirements, limits on certain premiums, as well as a new tax on insurers — all of which they expect to be passed along, at least in part, to small firms in the form of higher premiums. ‘We keep hearing that from small businesses, that they’re premiums keep going up, keep going up, and now this thing’s coming along, and they’re going to go up even more,’ House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said earlier this summer in an interview.”
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports on insurers struggling with the requirements of the new law. “The first people to buy in are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries of the subsidies—among them, older customers—says Jim Whisler of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.'s U.S. health actuarial practice. An insurer would likely call that a ‘worse risk pool,’ he says. But because the marketplace created by the law is new, he says, there is no previous pricing or demographic information to help calculate rates. ‘There is no experience,’ Mr. Whisler says. . . . ‘Commercial insurers are taking a very cautious position,’ says Gail Wilensky, a former Medicare director and UnitedHealth board member. ‘They are very concerned the first-in population is much more likely to be the sickest’ and that next year's rates will prove to have been set too low, she says.” The WSJ also notes, “In one sign of the uncertainties, large insurers such as Aetna Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. are limiting their participation in the new marketplaces.”
Just yesterday, Reuters reported, “Aetna Inc, the No. 3 U.S. health insurer, said on Thursday it has decided not to sell insurance on New York's individual health insurance exchange, part of the country's healthcare reform. New York is the fifth state where Aetna has pulled its application to sell the plans that go on sale on Oct. 1 and into effect on Jan. 1, 2014. It has also reversed course in Maryland, Ohio, Georgia, and Connecticut, where it is based.”
And it’s not just small businesses and insurers struggling with Obamacare. According to The Washington Post, the Office of Personnel Management is warning federal employees about the consequences of joining an Obamacare exchange. Noting “continued confusion and concerns about how the so-called Obamacare legislation will affect health-benefits for federal employees,” The Post writes, “OPM noted a few drawbacks for those who join the healthcare exchanges voluntarily, saying they would be ending their participation in the federal-worker life insurance and retirement programs. The agency also said the government will not contribute toward health coverage for executive-branch employees who join the insurance exchanges voluntarily.”
And then of course there are the big unions, who cheered on Democrats to push through the law back in 2009 and 2010. In a story headlined, “Labor Leader Admits ObamaCare Woes,” Time reported yesterday, “The head of the nation’s largest federation of unions admitted ‘we made some mistakes’ in writing ObamaCare Thursday at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast in downtown DC. The head of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, said he was surprised that employers have reduced workers’ hours below 30-a-week to avoid an employer penalty scheduled to go into effect in 2015.”
To quote Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell “This law is a disaster waiting to happen. . . . Instead of encouraging [business owners] to create jobs and grow the economy, we’re hitting them with a brick of regulations. . . . [U]nion leaders are even expressing fears about the law driving up costs for their own health-care plans, making unionized workers less competitive. This is the worst time to be imposing tens of thousands of pages of new regulations and onerous taxes on the very families and businesses that can least afford them. We owe our constituents better, particularly those who are struggling the most. Look: Obamacare is just too expensive, and it’s not working the way Washington Democrats promised. That’s why Obamacare needs to be repealed. And that’s why I will continue to push for its repeal.”
Tags: ;Obamacare, trainwreck To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 2:11 PM - Post Link
2 Comments:
It is a train wreck coming! Hopefully we can derail and defund.
Our "leaders" are ABSOLUTELY insane, irresponsible, and Marxist if they don't DEFUND Obamacare!!
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