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How's That Obamacare Waiver Workin' Out for Ya?
Townhall.com ^ | November 16, 2012 | Michelle Malkin

Posted on 11/16/2012 4:00:12 AM PST by Kaslin

Exactly two years ago this week, the Obama administration announced it had issued more than 100 waivers en masse to a select group of companies, unions and other health insurance providers seeking relief from the onerous federal health care law. The Obamacare waiver winner's club now totals 2,000. Where are they now?

Answer: In the same miserable boat as every other unlucky business struggling with the crushing costs and burdens of the mandate.

Among the first and most prominent recipients of the Obamacare waivers for favors were large restaurant chains that provide low-wage, seasonal and part-time workers with low-cost health insurance plans called "mini-med" plans. An estimated 1.7 million workers benefit from such plans. Obamacare forced companies carrying such coverage to raise their minimum limits on coverage to no less than $750,000 annually. Another Obamacare provision forces all employers to spend at least 80 percent to 85 percent of their premium revenue on medical care.

The social justice Democrats' goal was to dictate insurance provider spending not just on coverage amounts, but also on executive salaries, marketing and other costs. The regulation punished companies with mini-med plans whose high administrative costs were due to frequent worker turnover and relatively low spending on claims -- not "greed." Complying with the provision would have meant tens of thousands of low-income workers would lose their benefits altogether.

Darden Restaurants, the Florida-based parent company of Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Red Lobster and other chains, was a member of the Obamacare waiver early bird special. Their get-out-of-Obamacare card helped spare the company's health insurance benefits for nearly 34,000 employees. Breathing a sigh of relief that it would allow chains to continue offering all employees access to affordable health insurance, Darden said in a statement in the fall of 2010 that "the waiver allows us to continue to do that as the various phases of the health care law are implemented."

Fast-forward to 2012. Darden announced last month that it would begin shifting full-time workers to part-time status to save money, cut health costs and circumvent Obamacare's coverage mandate scheduled for full implementation in 2014. The move would reduce full-time employees' hours to less than 30 hours a week; part-time workers are exempt from the insurance mandate. McDonald's, another big Obamacare waiver recipient, is considering the same move.

In fact, a survey of members of the Chain Restaurant Compensation Association (CRCA) conducted last year by Hay Group reported that a whopping 77 percent of "quick serve" restaurant operators said they were considering reducing employee hours to change their status from full-time to part-time. At least one Denny's restaurant franchise owner in Florida is cutting hours and has openly contemplated an Obamacare surcharge. Jimmy John's and Papa John's are also slashing work hours. Applebee's is mulling a freeze on both hiring and expansion.

"There's no such thing as a free lunch" is a race-neutral truth. But economically illiterate Obama supporters have now called for boycotts of these businesses and accused them of vengeful "racism" against the president. Instead of sympathy and gratitude for private businesses trying to do right by their workers, customers and shareholders, the corporate-bashers inundated Twitter this week with profanity-laced condemnations of the restaurant service industry. One protester tweeted: "@Applebees Your CEO is a racist piece of (redacted), he not hiring because Obama was elected...U WILL LOSE CUSTOMERS."

"Red Lobster, Olive Garden (are) using Obama re-election as an excuse to deny employees benefits and living wages," Jon Marquis fumed.

Twitter user Daphine Walker sent unhinged, ungrammatical messages to Red Lobster and Olive Garden in all-caps: "I WILL NEVER SPEND ANOTHER CENT ON THIS RACIST COMPANY WHO DOESNT GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THEIR EMPLOYEES."

The CEO of Red Lobster and Olive Garden is black. But no matter. Regardless of the actual facts, economic realities and entirely predictable and inevitable consequences of command-and-control government mandates, it's always about identity politics for the Obama grievance mob. In good times and bad, the left never grants waivers from the race card.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2012; bankofamerica; barackobama; corruption; democrats; healthcare; healthinsurance; jobs; layoffs; liberalhypocrisy; obama; obamacare; obamacarewaiver; obamavoters; socialisthealthcare; waivers; zerocareeffects
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To: chuckles
Time to look for a job I think.

When you find one, Obama will take credit for creating it.

21 posted on 11/16/2012 5:52:30 AM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: Kaslin
Companies laying off employees wholesale and citing Obamacare as the reason is the only remaining chance to slay this beast. Maybe people will put enough pressure on their congresspersons to reverse this disaster.

Grasping at straws.

22 posted on 11/16/2012 6:00:06 AM PST by skeeter
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To: JCBreckenridge

Agreed.


23 posted on 11/16/2012 6:01:00 AM PST by madameguinot
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To: Kaslin

Your posting brings out the huge economic knowledge disparity between the makers and the takers. This Nation has become one with more takers than makers. Call it wealth distribution, socialism, or whatever, without a healthy amount of makers a society’s life drys up. I believe that we are not to far from a tipping point where/when the takers will be fighting among themselves for what is left to take.


24 posted on 11/16/2012 6:10:10 AM PST by noinfringers2
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To: skeeter
The unions are not helping either

Hostess, the makers of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread, is going out of business after striking workers failed to heed a Thursday deadline to return to work, the company said.

Twinkies Maker Hostess Going Out of Business

25 posted on 11/16/2012 6:22:40 AM PST by Kaslin ( One Big Ass Mistake America (Make that Two))
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To: kevkrom

Living in a rural area, we have only 3 fast food joints. The food is overpriced and ranges from disgusting to awful.

The 2 best take-away options are fried chicken from the convenience store chain or a rotisserie chicken from Walmart. The Chinese restaurant is so-so, but they do well w/portions large enough to share and a buffet (from which you can takeout, paying by the pound) both at an affordable price.

There is an increase in small mom & pop restaurants. I don’t know their politics, but given the voting patterns here, some must be owned by 0 voters. They offer everything from American diner fare to pizza and wings, plus a couple of trendy, more up-scale places that compete w/the one large traditional family-owned restaurant. Some have made a living for the past 4 years. Not mega bucks, but a family living.

It may be the end of the national chain of standardized frozen and microwaved offerings. The model just no longer works and the food has deteriorated in quality over the last 10 years. When McD’s for 2 averages around $16, there is room for local competition. However, the real bottom line killer, from what I am told, isn’t health insurance, since these places only have a few waitstaff, it is property, accident and liability insurance. It has already put one place out of business that I know of.


26 posted on 11/16/2012 6:24:18 AM PST by reformedliberal
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To: skeeter

That pressure on congress will give way to single payer, it won’t reverse anything.


27 posted on 11/16/2012 6:30:21 AM PST by EBH (0bama is guilty of willful neglect of duty.)
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To: Lurker

$6868 per employee ave for year.

$572 a month average.

Not long from now, we will all be discussing ‘the good old days’ when our employers gave us a decent health benefit at a reasonable cost.

Keep in mind that thousands of doctors and other health care workers are going to quit under Obamacare.


28 posted on 11/16/2012 7:26:22 AM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: Sgt_Schultze

I’m waiting for the next show to drop: I expect:

Companies won’t be able to deduct Obamacare costs from their gross income as a normal business expense.


29 posted on 11/16/2012 7:28:13 AM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: ThunderSleeps
I thought obamacare was supposed to be good for people, “the” answer to their healthcare hopes and dreams.

Same with Medicare. What's so good about a health insurance plan that requires you to buy supplemental insurance for what Medicare doesn't cover? Of course, this feature keeps AARP in business.

30 posted on 11/16/2012 8:29:41 AM PST by NRA1995 (CNN should be PNN (Propaganda, Never News))
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To: EBH

These idiots will continue to praise obama as the greatest president in history while they’re rummaging through fast food restaurants’ garbage cans looking for food.


31 posted on 11/16/2012 9:58:48 AM PST by Terry Mross (I haven't watched the news since the election. Someone ping me if anything big happens.)
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To: ridesthemiles

Instead of want ads reading “with benefits” they’ll say “with government benefits”.


32 posted on 11/16/2012 10:02:48 AM PST by Terry Mross (I haven't watched the news since the election. Someone ping me if anything big happens.)
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