Citing the need for “tweaks,” President Obama ignored yet another part of The Affordable Care Act by unilaterally rewriting deadlines for mid-size businesses. This delay gives mid-size businesses a reprieve by postponing the employer mandate until 2016.
“[T]he administration will let employers with 50 to 99 employees off the hook in 2015. They’ll be required to report on how many workers are covered but will have until 2016 before being required to cover full-time staff or pay a penalty…
Under the changes, employers with 100 or more workers will be required to provide health insurance to full-time staff next year. However, the new rules will only require them to cover 70 percent of workers at first; and then 95 percent the following year and beyond.
As before, companies with fewer than 50 employees will not be required to provide health coverage.”
For Mike – the law’s detrimental effects are already taking a toll on his company and others around him.
“We had the same health care provider for the last 10-plus years. Our rates [in 2013] were going to be 35% higher than the year before. We had to switch to a new provider because we could not afford the increase. Our new provider was 25% higher, but we had no choice,” stated the Pennsylvania businessman.
Wanting to avoid another hike in costs, Mike was hoping that his current policy, which is not ACA-compliant, could be extended in 2014.
“It seemed like we were going to get another year,” he said. “Then, we got a letter in the mail, saying our plan was being cancelled now.”
The agent assured Mike that other plans would be available.
“I’m sure it is going to be more money. We dodged a bullet early last year – instead of a 35% increase, it ended up being a 25% [increase]. It already went up, but unfortunately, we are going to be losing the plan that we just signed up for,” Mike explained. “They will offer us another plan, but the cost is unknown at this point, so we are kind of in limbo.”
Mike is not the only one in his family suffering from the legislative monstrosity.
“My sister worked for a local bank. She was considered part time and worked 36 hours a week. Her husband provided the health benefits for her from his job. The bank cut her hours down to 29 per week because of Obamacare,” shared Mike.
For Mike’s sister, those extra hours were crucial because her husband’s pay was cut due to his company not doing well.
“She did not need the benefits – she only needed the job to help pay her bills. She lost 7 extra hours per week because the employer is forced to supply benefits if they work over 29 hours per week,” he pointed out.
Unlike Rep Keith Ellison’s erroneous statement that Americans “work too much,” there are some people like Mike’s sister who desperately needed those hours.
“The people at the top have no clue what they are doing to our country. They are in their own little world in Washington,” exclaimed Mike. The point that upsets me is the fact that these guys have the nerve to try to get exemptions for their staff and themselves. If they were feeling it [the pain], things would change, but they are not. It’s the ultimate slap in the face.”
Abraham Lincoln once said, “The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.” Imagine the cry for repeal if Congress and big business actually had to come face-to-face with Obamacare’s full consequences.
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