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I hadn’t thought of that one :)

But it’s a real problem waiting to happen. I imagine they could buy a couple different types of policies, crummy ones, not so crummy ones, and good ones...then the more you make the better insurance you could afford.

Do I really believe the ACLU will sit quietly by and watch the $10 an hour employee get bad insurance when working at the same company of the higher paid employee who has a decent plan...that’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Like I said, we’ve always paid around $300 per month the company picks up the $900, the plan costs $1200 per month total. I think they do offer other options, but they all look to be around the same cost. The reason our cost has stayed pretty stable for the last few years, is each year deductibles edge up, certain benefits, physical therapy, for instance, is cut back, and out of pockets are more.

But an employee making $10 a hour makes approx. $21,000. 9.5% of that is $1995 per year, or around $166 per month, which would make the total cost of the policy $646 per month (if we’re working on the assumption that employee pays 1/4, company pays 3/4.) Wonder what kind of group insurance you get for $646 per month? I’m sure you can get a policy for that, I just imagine they’d have large deductibles and out of pocket expense.

I imagine they could buy a couple different types of policies, crummy ones, not so crummy ones, and good ones...then the more you make the better insurance you could afford.

Unfortunately, this is exactly wrong. The whole point of Obamacare is to require that all people get the same insurance coverage, regardless of what they can 'afford.' Your presumption that the employer will continue to make up only 3/4 of the total cost is wrong. Under Obamacare, the employer is required to make up whatever the remaining cost is after 9.5% (max) is taken from the employee wages. In some cases, employers will end up paying 90% of the cost of bloated Obamacare coverage, or even more. It can double the cost of having an employee.

Which is unsustainable for a lot of companies, and a lot of jobs. If the employee does not provide value to the company that exceeds his/her costs, then that job will go away.

Buying better coverage for higher-paid full time employees than for lower-paid full time employees has long been a violation of the law for larger employers. Obamacare changes the game by penalizing employers if they don’t offer “better” coverage to all full time employees, and also penalizing employers if the employee portion of the premium for “better” coverage is too expensive for lower-paid employees to afford.

The trick in all of this is that the penalties are far lower than the cost to the employer paying all the cost of “better” coverage and many employers will find it more profitable to accept the penalties (for not offering insurance at all, or not subsidizing it enough) or to bear the incremental administrative and efficiency costs of having more part time workers.

The real game is going to be on the Exchanges — what policies are offered, who buys them, etc.