Will ObamaCare Collapse?

[Geee]

Front Page Magazine:

Large employers who spend $80 billion a year to insure millions of employees and their families say ObamaCare is headed for “collapse.” Human resource executives see the law as pushing employers to drop health coverage. A 28-page analysis by the Association of Chief Human Resource Officers (ACHRO) finds a majority believe the law must be repealed or overhauled.

ObamaCare requires employers to offer health insurance to their employees. If they don’t, they would have to pay a penalty beginning in 2014. But when McDonald’s and some other employers warned it would be too expensive to ensure their large ranks of employees, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued waivers, taking dozens of companies off the hook, The New York Times and other publications reported. Preferential treatment for some companies is sure to cause resentment.

The ACHRO report said its members believe “with each passing year” ObamaCare “will encourage more employers to drop employer provided care and prompt their employees to seek coverage through exchanges” to be set up in every state to sell insurance. The exchanges supposedly would allow individuals to shop to see if they are eligible for government subsidies to help pay for the health care. But Republicans may block the establishment of exchanges, according to a Nov. 10 story in Vital Signs.

When ObamaCare was being carelessly knitted together in Congress last spring, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that about 3 million people, a relatively small slice, would lose their employer-sponsored health plans as a result of the legislation. It now is clear that was a gross underestimation. Employers may well “find it more profitable to eliminate health benefits altogether,” said an Oct. 29 WSWS.org story.
Large employers “want their employees and retirees to have access to affordable, high-quality health care. However, on the whole, large employers believe PPACA (the initials for what is falsely named the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) broadens access while failing to make any meaningful change in the way health care is delivered,” OCHRO declared.