Much to no real surprise: "Employers play Obamacare blame game"

[dballance]

Shocked I tell you. I'm shocked that employers would use the ACA as an excuse to drop, reduce or limit benefits. Benefits they'd love to drop all together and continue to pay people so little in wages they couldn't afford to buy their own healthcare.

I really hope some investigative journalist or union reps are out there finding out the reality of the situation. Employees don't have time to do research on what their employers tell them so they're left to believe it's the ACA and not robber barons who are dropping their benefits.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/29/news/economy/employers-obamacare-benefits/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[Puzzledtraveller]

1. Doesn't the law allow this to happen?

Why was it written in such a way such that this would or may occur? I'm a Medicaid caseworker, I begin training on HBE next week and expanded medicaid. My concerns are genuine.

[dballance]

3. I'm pretty sure one cannot write a law to prevent employers mis-representing things.

I don't really know of any laws that actually prevent employers from grossly mis-representing things like health care benefits costs. To the point that many of us would call lying even.

I'm sure your concerns are genuine and you should be concerned about changes. Any change is usually a challenge. Just as I'm sure that when Medicare and Medicaid became law there were many changes and challenges about which people were concerned. If I were a Medicaid caseworker I'd certainly be concerned about possibly increased case loads due to expanding Medicaid. Are you in a state that is setting up an exchange and expanding the state's Medicaid with the funding from the ACA?

[Puzzledtraveller]

8. Yes, we accepted the funding for expansion and HBE.

We have done some additional hiring thanks in part to the federal program but it is just my opinion that if employers begin to dump their employees we may not be equipped to handle the increased caseload. Employers now have a year to dump people from the rolls.

[geek tragedy]

5. Because the first amendment allows them to lie, nt

[Half-Century Man]

2. Think about it.

Is it really a surprise that employers are dropping health coverage and blaming the ACA? Why do you think that that was not planned for?
Or is it the beginnings of the justification for universal health care?

"As we already foot the bill for the vast majority of the population (say 75%), we need control of their policies?" sort of a thing.


Was the ACA an end or a pathway?

[leftstreet]

4. Well, the reality is some employers have a point

From the link:

'Cadillac' tax: Starting in 2018, employers who offer rich benefit plans -- where the total premium will cost more than $10,200 for an individual plan or $27,500 for family coverage -- will have to pay the so-called Cadillac tax, a 40% tax on the amount over the threshold. This tax is prompting companies to shift more medical expenses onto employees, which not only brings down the price of the premiums, but also pushes employees and their spouses to consider other options available to them, said Sandy Ageloff, senior consultant with Towers Watson, a professional services firm.

Although it's not the employers who will suffer. They'll just drop coverage

[hughee99]

6. I'm not normally one to believe the repukes when they say something,

but they were saying this would happen back when they were debating the bill. The president argued "If you like your company's plan, you get to keep it" and the repukes were out there telling people their company is going to take your plan away because of this legislation. Did anyone doubt that a company would pass up a chance to screw it's own workers and blame it on the government?

[HockeyMom]

7. Part time Retail and Fast Food Jobs

Hello? These fields have majority of part time jobs to begin with, and have been for decades. LONG before anyone ever heard of Obama. They did this in the PAST to not pay benefits. They are now just using it for the publicity and GREED.