[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
Health See other Health Articles Title: Companies Prefer Penalties vs Paying for Health Insurance The federal government, who has mandated the new health insurance coverage law insisting that all people buy health insurance by 2014, does not impose any penalty on small businesses with fifty employers or less that do not offer coverage to their workers. Massachusetts is one state whose companies are taking advantage of this and dropping health insurance for their workers. President Obama’s new health-care law will make it so that more than 24 million people in the United States will be expected to depend on their places of employment for health coverage by 2014. Because of the increasing health insurance premiums, many companies are dropping health insurance coverage for their workers or reducing the amount of health insurance coverage they offer. President Obama recently gave certain states $250 million to help reduce their health insurance rates, but is this enough? For many companies in Massachusetts, it is not enough, as they have dropped coverage for their workers and encourage them to "sign up for state-subsidized care instead, a trend that, some analysts say, could eventually weigh heavily on the state’s already-stressed budget". One employer in a Massachusetts company stated, "They [companies] are giving up out of frustration. Most of them are very compassionate but they simply can’t afford health insurance any more.’’ The Office of Labor and Workforce Development said the most recent quarterly insurance data collected from small companies has not been completed as of yet, so it cannot be calculated yet how many companies in the state have dropped health insurance coverage, but the number is growing. With the new law that mandates people to get their own coverage in 2014, more and more companies do not feel the need to pay for their workers' health benefits. Workers at smaller companies such as restaurants, day-care centers, hair salons, and retail shops most often pay such low wages, that their workers qualify for state-subsidized health insurance. The burden of covering so many new people will fall on the state. The Obama administration, giving $250 million to each state, feels this is enough? Many people feel they have had "enough" of the administration. Analysts are saying that the burden will fall onto the public. Mark Gaunya, president of the Massachusetts Association of Health Underwriters, a trade group representing more than 1,000 brokers and other insurance professionals stated, “Those employers are trying to keep their doors open, and to the extent they can cut expenses, they will cut health insurance because they know their people can go to Commonwealth Care.’’ Larry Levitt, vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a California-based think tank, stated, “The more the employer insurance system unravels, the higher the cost is going to be for the state in providing subsidies to low income workers. From a state finance perspective, stabilizing employer insurance is definitely important.’’ For those states are will be penalized by the government for not providing health insurance benefits for their employees, they believe that it will still be far less expensive to pay the state penalty for not covering their workers. This would come out to approximately $295 annually per employee versus paying thousands more in premiums.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#0)
Proving once more, that the private, for profit, sector, is always smarter than the moronic public sector.
deleted
The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one.
deleted
The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one.
This is by design. The penalties are lower then compliance in order to get companies to drop people. Then, suddenly, because as you know any changes in health care coverage invalidates your coverage and you're forced into a public option, well, you're in the one payer system like everybody else! Except me of course, since I'm not going to participate. But the rest of y'all are screwed! :)
"The more artificial taboos and restrictions there are in the world, the more the people are impoverished.... The more that laws and regulations are given prominence, the more thieves and robbers there will be." - Lao Tzu, 6th century BC
|
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||