Posted on 09/20/2013 4:33:12 PM PDT by Idaho_Cowboy
How terrible. Home Depot (HD) and Trader Joe’s have decided to stop offering health insurance for part-time employees, moving them over to Obamacare instead. More companies seem sure to follow. And more wailing about greedy, heartless corporations is sure to follow that. Some workers may start to drop dead from sheer anxiety before Obamacare even goes into effect on January 1.
Once the new health law has been in place for a few months, however, Part-Time America may issue a collective sigh of relief. Nobody ever held up today’s part-time "mini-med" plans as model coverage. The majority of part-time workers don’t even get health insurance, and those who do typically get diluted plans with limited benefits they still have to pay something for. “You have to question whether that’s really insurance,” says Paul Fronstin, director of the health research program at the Employee Benefits Research institute. “They may not cover prescription drugs, and if you get cancer or end up in the hospital, they probably won’t help you a whole lot.”
Insurance offered under the Affordable Care Act, by contrast, could end up being a much better deal. Obamacare is complicated, and it will require many people to do detailed research on their insurance options instead of having an employer do it for them. There have also been elaborate efforts by foes of the program to depict it as The Ruination of Everything. So it’s not surprising that part-timers being told their employer is cutting them loose and sending them over to Obamacare are a little jumpy.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Thank you for saying it, thank flipping scumbama for the economic devastation he’s about to shove down your throats.
I see this as a good thing.
Any initiative that separates health care from employment is a positive step.
The outrageous inflation in health care costs began when the consumer was insulated from the costs.
We haven't heard about businesses shipping jobs overseas, but they will. It's just going to take a while.
...diluted plans with limited benefits they still have to pay something for. “You have to question whether that’s really insurance,”
Oh, the horrors!
I see this as a good thing.
Any initiative that separates health care from employment is a positive step.
The outrageous inflation in health care costs began when the consumer was insulated from the costs.
Yeah, but sending them to the government instead, through bait and switch subsidies isn’t going to help. I think it’s all a ploy to make a huge mess and get the low information folks to demand single payer as the government solution.
Except in the situations this article addresses, low-income part-timers will be heavily subsidized by taxpayers while getting their coverage from an Obamacare exchange.
No, they should tbe thanking their PRES__ENT.
You may be right.
In my area, most HD/Lowes folks are retirees or spouses.
Very few “low income breadwinners”.
Yeah. The part they fail to mention is that these people will now find themselves working less hours and making less money. I’m sure they’ll have a lot to be thankful for.
The author has totally missed several key flaws. He’s probably a hired 0-info troll anyways.
1. It’s far from certain that there will be enough providers enrolled in exchanges, especially since many exchange insurance companies appear to be intentionally limiting the number of providers. A lot of providers will probably decide not sign up as well.
2. I can’t see why healthy young people will sign up for 0-care, when the penalty is so low (or just not take the refund) These people have few assets, and they could sign up if they get sick or qualify for Medicaid if sick.
3. The paperwork will be a pain in the ass.
4. As the healthy realize that there is no value in signing up and overpaying for something they will not use, the costs for the exchange will go up as the pool gets sicker. Then, the subsidies will cover substantially less of the cost unless the subsidies are based on a percentage. If subsidies are based on a percentage, states paying for 0-care and the federal government will pay more and more.
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