I’m sure everyone by now is inundated with all the hype around the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). From a patient perspective, some of the things that have changed have been good. But what about from a company perspective?The news is filled with stories on big companies cutting their part-time workforce to less than 29 hours per week to avoid the 30 hour minimum requirement as stated in Obamacare. Some are eliminating coverage for spouses altogether for those who can obtain coverage at their place of employment.
I deal with smaller companies (150 employees or less) and I’m interested in hearing what others are experiencing out in the field. For example, I have one company (about 60 employees) that is continuing to cover the cost of their employees premiums for health care insurance at 100% while another company (150 employees) is holding off until the new mandate (pushed back to 2015) to decide if they are going to add health insurance or just pay the penalty. At this point, it may be cheaper for them to pay the penalty.
These companies aren’t the UPS’s of the world. They are the small businesses that are the backbone of this economy. I don’t think anyone can get an accurate picture of the true impact of this until we look at everything. So, please respond to the poll below. I’ll post results in another blog.
The Rant 