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President Obama promised that workers could keep their health insurance, but McDonald's hourly employees may lose their "mini-med" plans unless the... View Enlarged Image
Health Care: A big employer mulls dropping health insurance coverage due to ObamaCare's mandates. The claim that if you like your plan you can keep it was a lie, and the effort to destroy private insurance is working.
The 30,000 or so hourly workers at McDonald's undoubtedly like the health care plan their employer provides and would like to keep it. For $14 a week, a worker gets a plan that caps annual benefits at $2,000; $32 a week gets you coverage up to $10,000.
They get minimum coverage at a minimum price, but most younger workers are healthy and for that reason, they constitute a high percentage of the uninsured. What McDonald's Corp. offers is not a one-size-fits-all nanny-state special that forces young males to pay for mammograms.
President Obama promised that under ObamaCare these workers could keep these plans, but McDonald's has told federal regulators in a memo that it would be "economically prohibitive" for its insurance carrier to continue to cover its hourly workers unless it receives a waiver to the ObamaCare requirement that 80% of premiums for such "mini-med" plans be spent on medical care.
Other large employers who offer such plans could find themselves in the same dilemma — companies like Home Depot, CVS, Staples and Blockbuster. The net result for many would be going from minimal coverage that fits their current needs to no coverage at all — at least until 2014, when ObamaCare is in full swing.
Democrats wanted the requirement, called a medical loss ratio or MLR, to guarantee insurers wouldn't squander premiums on things like marketing while competing with other insurers.
McDonald's and others say the MLR is unrealistic because of high administrative costs due to high worker turnover.
This administration doesn't understand how businesses operate and really doesn't care. As for private insurers, the White House doesn't care if they're driven out of business due to higher costs. We now know health care premiums and costs will rise due to Obama-Care, another health care reform lie.
The Congressional Budget Office recently concluded that "premiums for millions of American families in 2016 will be 10% — 13% higher than they otherwise would be. This represents a $2,100 increase per family, compared with the status quo."
Such plans are examples of the innovative ways to provide both coverage and choice private insurers can provide, but such "niche" products are in danger. We recently commented on how major insurers have dropped or will drop "child-only" policies because of the ObamaCare requirement that children with pre-existing conditions be covered without question.
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Race: The Justice Department's racist voter-rights enforcement should put to rest the illusion that this administration represents the transcendence of racial politics. Bankers also have a story to tell. In the New Black Panthers case, Justice refused to protect the rights of white voters. ...
Trade: Skipping town like a bunch of grammar school truants, Congress couldn't find the time to either pass a budget or keep the Bush tax cuts from expiring. But it did find time to start a senseless trade war with China. The so-called Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act will do nothing that ...
A couple of hours before President Obama offered a boffo revival of his 2008 campaign persona during a boisterous rally at the University of Wisconsin, Sen. Bernie Sanders was analyzing why the president was in a political pickle in the first place. Sanders, the independent from Vermont who ...
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Posted By: LouisianaJoe(90) on 10/1/2010 | 1:27 AM ET
Sometimes you are not lucky enough to get insurance at the first step. McDonald's has actually tried to do this and should be admired for this. Obamacare throws a ringer into this. It has requirements that make it impossible for a company to make economic decisions that will allow the company to hire inexperienced workers and insure them. A company must make a profit to remain in business. Insurance costs can rise to the point that makes that impossible. Either no insurance or no company.
Posted By: LouisianaJoe(90) on 10/1/2010 | 1:18 AM ET
I have run several successful businesses. What many do not understand is that each job a person has is a step on a ladder. You have to prove that you can stand on the first step before you advance to the next step. Part of the first step is proving that you can show up for work on time every day, do what you are instructed to do by your bosses, and show that you can do the job. Many employers will not hire you for a better job unless you can prove that you made it past the first step.
Posted By: sparkymike1(995) on 10/1/2010 | 12:16 AM ET
We better all start learning to speaka Chinese, because this heath care thing should be the final "nail in the coffin" for the good ol' USA! NO ONE EVEN KNOWS WHAT LAWS WERE PASSED! NOR, WHAT NEW REQS ARE! HOW CAN YOU HAVE A LAW ABIDING SOCIETY, WHEN THE SOCIETY DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT LAWS IT IS SUBJECTED TO??? Went to my 1st (but not last) TEA PARTY tonight!!! DO NOT JUST B I T C H. Get INVOLVED or SHUT the F*** UP!!!
Posted By: The Barnicle(1060) on 10/1/2010 | 12:06 AM ET
Recent invention of Common Sense Measure Meter for Libs starts with advantage of bottom reading of 85%. The conservative meter starts at bottom reading of 0%. These scales have a proven history of equalizing results in the name of fairness after analyzing 100 questions from opposing political sides for solving America's problems. Consider ordering our meters for your groups so you don't hurt anyone's feelings and to support Obama's campaign for equal outcomes (dumb in down) in America.
Posted By: SanfordA(275) on 9/30/2010 | 10:00 PM ET
Companies are prohibited from charging enough money to cover administrative costs. How can the government do such an evil thing and get away with it? Same with the mortgages. Banks were forced to give mortgages at costs lower than break-even for the banks. Let us hope the wicked Cong. Franks loses! We have to fight the stupid illogic of this stupid government with everything we have!
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