Posted on 09/18/2013 5:29:59 AM PDT by 11th_VA
Walgreens, the nation’s largest drugstore chain, reportedly will no longer offer health insurance coverage to about 180,000 employees at its approximately 8,000 US stores. Going forward, workers will need to buy coverage on so-called healthcare exchanges with an employer-provided subsidy.
The company apparently attributed the major change to its benefits package to healthcare cost increases as well as Obamacare, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Healthcare exchanges or marketplaces are supposed to be up in running as of October 1 under Obamacare, a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act. During an August 2009 town hall meeting, President Obama promised that “If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep your healthcare plan.”
Under the new Walgreens policy, “the firm will pay a fixed amount for employees to select coverage options in a private insurance exchange run by Aon Hewitt, a consulting unit of Aon PLC.
The exchange will offer up to 25 different plans in some states.” According to a Walgreens exec, “I think the only way to drive down costs in the health care space is to have the consumer buying the health care be knowledgeable and educated and understand what they are buying.”
To date, however, many state healthcare exchanges, however, don’t yet exist or are behind schedule in ramping up, prompting one US Senator to describe the situation as a huge train wreck.
(Excerpt) Read more at inquisitr.com ...
That's the problem... they can't. So the only "shopping" one will be doing is with the only insurance provider - the government.... Check mate. This was always the plan... drive the sheep to slaughter.
The plan all along for the corporatists and globalist corps. was to “cost shift” medical care benefits over to “the government”, ie. the taxpayers. Corporations get out of taxes so their liablity is reduced to zero.
Part of those corporations, the insurance companies, bought into this BS because they anticipated a bonanza of mandated premiums pouring into their coffers. Dirty secret these greedy a-holes did not ferret out or care about is... the unemployed will not a-pay for insurance or b) be able to afford it.
The “exchanges” are designed to fail— to drive prices up and the private insurers out. The “fix” is the single payer — the all providing “government”. The quality of care resulting— absolute shiite.
This is why RINOs support it... copying the english nightmare. The wealthy will always find medical care— be it in Singapore or NYC or any tertiary center of “excellence”.
I believe that any kid in the USA can get free immunizations already. In my state, all you have to do is take your kids down to the county health department. The exceptions would be immunizations that you’d only need for international travel.
On the other hand why should companies have to expend resources for their employee’s health insurance?
And ever wonder why it’s more advantageous to offshore when you don’t have to worry about covering Sanjay in Mumbai?
Employment and health insurance should be decoupled.....in fact, I would assert, it’s a huge factor in age discrimination.
Other large companies will follow suit shortly
They were providing a “service”? Healthcare became part of the benefits required from the time that Kaiser shipyards began providing it— from WWII.
The size of the corp, like in all labor laws, determined the extent of coverage required, and paralelled the union participation (surprise, surprise).
It is no accident that Teddy Kennedy supported and created the HMO idea.....with designs to FAIL totally, with the ERISA statutes that protected HMO’s from liability suits— which also failed. End result— HMOs were a failure. Next step govt. healthcare managed by govt. paid for by -— why... everybody of course. Socialism writ large.
The employers are wiling participants and lobbyists in this socialism— it props up their bottom line as they cost shift the burden to... us the supposed taxpayers whom they have unemployed so that we cannot pay.
A useful parallel is the coal operators in the 20s and 30s who “cost shifted” their black lung liability expenses over to a NEW federal agency (created by their influence peddlers and Congress people) to over see a “trust fund” to pay for the medical care-— so THEY wouldn’t have to ever again. This is the SAME thing. And Mr. Subsidy— Warren Buffett is finally realizing how much he will lose if this goes through— his “bank” of insurance money will dry up, as will the supply of employees.
This is what you voted for, America. Twice. Enjoy.
I agree. Employers are doing this for all the reasons they did it before— cost shifting. The cost is mandated by the feds for US citizens employed by a large outfit. Therefore—globalize at the same time you “cost shift” to national healthcare. Massive bottom line increase and lowered liability.
The govt. needs to get out of healthcare altogether- as do corporations - but it apparently cannot— the medical research machine must be fed— for our “protection” of course. They cannot detach or dismantle- like so many other
govt. octopi agencies who cannibalize our life’s blood, “eating out our substance” as a Founder put it.
There was not and is not (at least before Obamacare) a law that requires employers to provide healthcare. It actually began as a matter of taxes and the employers figuring out a way around them as a means to induce employees to hire on. Just because you have a hard on against employers, HMOs, PPOs, or otherwise does not make them the bad guy. These were all responses to rising costs and the intrusion of government, and lawyers. Frankly, I don't give a crap about black lung, mesothelioma, or any of the lawyer enriching afflictions you decry. I don't give a crap about Warren Buffet, that dead bastard Kennedy or any of them that have vested financial or ideological interests. I only know you are paid (and benefited) what you are worth, and no amount of floor sweeping, wrench turning, French fry bagging or burger selling is gonna make you worth any more than that. Government, employers, capitalism doesn't owe you sh!t except to compensate you for what you are worth. If you want better for everybody, you could go to England and try and fight off the Muslims.
WAGs was way ahead of everyone when they forced their employees to agree to <30 hrs/week leading into 2012. They had to have been in on all this. The CEO is an Obamalicker. They jumped all over the electric car charger thing, and then played neighborhood grocer when they helped Lady Michelle and her food deserts (desserts? - I always forget which is which.) They agreed to carry produce no one would ever buy with totally inadequate storage capabilities. You could barely walk into the walk in full of Red Bulls, and yet somehow they were gonna stuff heads of iceberg in there. Lol.
“I believe employers also quietly lobbied for this so they can ease out of providing health care.”
If the misplaced logic of employer provided HC were taken to its logical conclusion then:
1) Employers would have to provide FOOD as everyone needs food more than Health Care.
2) Employers would have to provide a car or transportation to work as you can’t work if you can’t get there (home based employment excluded of course)
3) Employers must provide clothing as you cannot show up to work naked (unless you are a poll dancer)
4) Employers must provide housing as everyone needs a place to stay.
Why not demand they tuck you into bed at night and kiss your forehead and tell you a bed time story about how the workers of the world united to take over all business and let government run everything?
What a thought, people too dumb or to chicken to risk their money to start a business being allowed a say in how business is run. Oh, we have that already and it is called a union.
Thanks for posting. I agree with you. I wanted to write something similar but I don’t have the time or patience for all the replies.
You clearly have a problem understanding the written word and miss the points of my posting entirely. My mentioning of the various “afflictions” were statements of fact for the workers, and a point of causality.
Sorry you are upset and angry. While your comments about a workers worth and obligation would be true in a truly free labor market— they are wholly incorrect in the current world. I was pointing out how we got here. The obamaumaocare debacle is the near pinnacle of decades of Fabian socialism. The reference I made to black lung... was to point out just how the corporate types have done this in the past, getting the govt. involved to intervene and then no longer having the responsibility or liability. It is an absolute parallel of how we got here to obamaumaocare.
The labor laws of this country and Democrat New Deal union politics of the Progressives proceeded to make providing healthcare as a “tax-deductible” benefit by employers, and for those employers of a certain size, politically it became codified, and the morass of labor laws have enjoined it into “law from the bench” in day to day operations. To the point where the jackasses of the demo and rino world have declared healthcare a “right”— it isn’t.
Employers could deduct the cost of providing benefits (through their lobbying efforts and sold to employees as a form of “pay”- which it was not since they are totally deductible) from corporate taxes. They manipulated the legislation to their tax advantage for this “politically correct” benefit. Their culpability in this march away from a free market is undeniable. The active players also in this were the Unions and their pals in the Demo party, in particular Teddy Kennedy, pressuring corporate America to provide ever higher benefits (again, as “rights”) to which corporate America responded with again more tax breaks to try to offset this idiotic escalation of “rights” from the laborites.
So a progression of alphabet soup agencies and laws and entities, providing full employment for corporate and labor and govt. lawyers ensued: ERISA, HIPPAA, HMOs, PPOs...all eating out of the trough that the taxpayers fill. The largest firms self-insure and contract out to meet the federal commitment. But all of this has cost our society greatly. For example, physician practices have had to hire people just to handle the 3rd party payment system so created.
In short, corporations greased the pols (dems and rinos alike) to allow the cost shift to continue through the tax code, and the Unions pushed and greased the pols from their end for their “rights”.
The end goal of the socialists is and has been govt. single payer and govt. control of all of us, save the elite— the US Euro Union. The large corporations have incorporated these “goals” into their business plans, made govt. their “partner” and are globally socialist organizations of elitists.
The post was to point out this march of Fabian socialism and Progressivism. The only way out of this is to sever from both the global corporatists AND the federal govt. mobsters. They are one and the same. Just say no— defund, defeat and do NOT replace. Let insurance be sold across all state lines—market rates. Don’t provide care for uninsured, period. True pay to play.
The cultural key to this entire mess is the frank elitism of the anglophilic Establishment that thinks copying the UK is the way to go. NHS in UK is an utter failure, the country corrupt and racing to the pot of money from petroleum muslims for their salvation— to the point of installing Shariah law as OK in the Church of England.
Apparently our New England elite thinks they ARE royalty and king obongo their houseboy on a string. But they are all, all of them socialists. They are the same people the South tried to separate from many years ago.
Boy, you sure are a real mess of anti-establishment, anti-employer and anti- anything but government aren’t you.
Instead of dwelling on the past causality as you call it, maybe you should go outside and get your hands dirty digging a ditch or something....
Not too many negative replies as only a few conservatives seem to be bitten by the socialist/communist bug.
It is amazing how any conservative supports such alleged “free or subsidized” programs. The old, “whose ox is being gored” theory I guess.
The only reason they got in the business of providing health insurance for employees in the first place was as a way to get around wartime wage controls.
This, I knew....apparently some other people here think it was a right or some law that required health care and are ready to blame all sorts of ills on our society because of it - from those thinking it is a basic right, to those that over analyze the actions of legitimate capitalist employers trying to maximize their worth.
I am at loss arguing with these people. You are paid what the heck you are worth, period. Ever since I left 8 years in the US Military with ‘free healthcare’ where my wife had to wait until my birthday to make any dental appointment, and my stint with their doctors getting practice for their after-service ‘practice, I realized that you need to make yourself valuable to an employer to get what you want.
I dropped Walgreen’s when I was going through chemo. I had acid reflux anyway and chemo just killed my heartburn so cancer doc gave me a scrip for Nexium. Went to Walgreen’s to have it filled where I found it was $180 or something under my insurance because it wasn’t covered. Told the gal....nevermind and she started opining on how Obamacare was gonna fix all this and how wonderful it was gonna be. I told her butt off, left, and called the company to complain. Have not been back.
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