Buried in a new Treasury Department ruling is a requirement that businesses certify to the IRS that their hiring and firing decisions had nothing to do with ObamaCare.
Employers are still able to cut back the size of their workforce to get under the 50- or 100-employee threshold, as long they’re willing to swear under penalty of perjury that the decision was made irrespective of the requirements of ObamaCare, and was only done for what the Administration deems “bona fide business reasons.”
The onerous possibilities of these new regulations are responsible for the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) abandonment of healthcare coverage for its 85,000 members. Last year the organization was not bashful in noting that the Affordable Care Act was the main culprit behind the decision:
“The evolving market conditions and regulatory environment created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will ultimately prevent the underwriter of the AVMA GHLIT medical plan, from offering competitive medical insurance for association plans such as the GHLIT’s. In December, 2012 the underwriter of the AVMA GHLIT medical plan announced they are going to discontinue offering medical insurance to association plans after 2013. To that end, the GHLIT is working with its business partners to establish a program to help assist its medical plan participants with the transition to other medical insurance coverage effective January 1, 2014.”
The AVMA further explained.
“The burden of complying with varying coverage and rate requirements on a state-by-state basis was cited by the underwriter as a significant factor in its decision.”
Anna from Virginia is one of those members. Like many veterinarians, Anna received insurance through the AVMA, a not-for-profit organization that provided discounted group coverage for decades until recently.
“Due to the affordable healthcare plan, our group health insurance had declined to cover us after Dec 31 2013. AVMA Group Health Insurance Trust underwritten by New York Life Insurance has been covering veterinarians for over 55 years,” explained the Virginia resident.
Like so many across the nation, Anna was unable to keep her plan. The healthcare certainty she enjoyed for 16 years – having adequate coverage in times of need and access to the doctors of her choice – has been erased. She can only hope her new policy will be enough.
“I’ve had this health plan since Vet School in 1997,” she stated. “I enjoyed having the same insurance because I knew it had been good in the past. Now, I don’t know if I can go through the same doctors I had before.”
Unlike ObamaCare, the AVMA made good on their promise and assisted Anna in finding a new provider.
“I waited until my coverage expired, and then I started talking to the salesperson who covered the AVMA insurance. He directed me to Assurant. Coverage began in February,” she said.
With the change came higher premiums for Anna. “It’s about $150 more a month. I’m paying it monthly right now, because it’s a slow time of the year. I used to pay the other one quarterly.”
Anna’s loss of coverage is just another one of ObamaCare’s many casualties. Frustrated by the situation, she does not blame AVMA, “I know they did their best to try to cover us.” Although, she does have a few choice words for the law, which the President claims will be a “monumental achievement” in years to come.
“I am a small business owner. I work more than full time. I do not see how any of this legislation is of benefit to those of us who are working our butts off trying to live the lost American Dream,” exclaimed Anna.
President Reagan reminds us, “[I]t was free enterprise, not government regulation…that had led to the building of a great America.”
The Federal Government would do well to remember that free market capitalism is responsible for the high standard of living Americans enjoy, not government programs.
Editor’s Note: This article has been edited to correct Anna’s state of residence. It is Virginia, not Washington
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