I talked to this guy yesterday who has worked for a hospital for 20 years. He has never bought into the hospital’s health insurance plan as he gets insurance through his wife’s employer. He claims that under Obamacare, the hospital has to offer insurance to everyone now, and consequently the hospital has started charging him for health insurance even though he is still not on the plan. He claims this is costing him $1,000 per month.
This just does not seem right to me. I know that did not happen at my job; even though my insurance contribution went up like $80 a month, I still have co-workers who do not participate in the plan and they don’t get charged.
Is there anything in Obamacare that could conceivably cause what this person is claiming? It just sounds like BS to me; if there’s even a grain of truth to it I would guess the hospital is just trying to increase profits on the backs of their employees, and using the new healthcare laws as a convenient scapegoat.
I thought that much of ‘Obamacare’ hasn’t even gotten implemented yet. I seem to recall that there will be some of it put in place this year and more next year and the year after, though I may be misremembering.
My BS detector is going off on that one. A thousand dollars per month?? Unless he’s got some real issues I don’t see that happening.
BTW, I don’t get insurance either (I’m self employed)…I’m on my wife’s plan. And I am not having to pay anything extra.
Is your friend my brother in law? It sounds like exactly the sort of thing he’d say, completely made up, assuming that everyone else in the world is as uninformed and detached from reality as he is.
Someone more knowledgeable about the health care reforms might be able to correct or clarify, but as of 2014 employers of 50 or more people will be required to OFFER health insurance to their employees. Two key things there, 2014 and offer. While employers have to offer health insurance, employees will not have to purchase it from that employer.
Plus, $1000 a month? That is just absurd.
No, this friend is either misinformed or making crap up.
Re: the $1,000 a month, this guy makes over $40 per hour, and claims that the new insurance regulations cost him $6 per hour, which does work out to the neighborhood of $1,000 per month.
So, he’s not directly paying $1000 a month? He’s insured elsewhere but being charged for employee insurance by his employer? None of this is adding up.
I thought he was being forced to pay by his employer (the hospital). If so, where do the hourly figures come in? Where is this $6/hr figure coming from? I’ve never heard of any employer charging for health insurance premiums by the hour. So, you could work part time, pay less in premiums, and still get full coverage? How is this making sense?
Is he conflating some kind of lost opportunity cost with the cost of health insurance? But a direct charge was mentioned. So, he still has to pay for insurance with his employer, even if he’s insured elsewhere? That part doesn’t make sense and isn’t part of any of the reforms.
He’s completely full of shit. If you already have insurance, there is no requirement that you change it, nor can a company cover you and charge you without your pemission.
There is no such thing as “Obamacare,” by the way.
The average cost of a family health insurance plan, including the employer contribution, is a little over $13K/year, or just over $1000/month, so that may be where this guy latched onto this number.
Certainly I don’t know of any current provision that would charge him that amount when he is not enrolled at his employer, though, particularly if he has insurance elsewhere.
You do understand that the man who used this term in conversation with the OP is not necessarily a member of this board, right? I imagine he meant the PPACA, but we can only speculate.
I don’t believe it’s related to Obamacare but more a new insurance practice.
At my company, a new rule was instituted for this year. If your spouse is on your plan but is eligible for insurance through their own job, you have to pay an extra amount (in my case, it’s $500 per year). It was explained to us as a way for the insurance company to cover it’s overhead by providing insurance for the non-employee. TANSTAAFL.
How can anything (other than political events) be a “consequence of Obamacare” yet? Don’t we have a while to wait until any of the healthcare-reform package is implemented?
I believe “Obamacare” is the colloquial term for the recent healthcare reform legislation. I used it because he used it in his complaint. You know what I mean- the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
I know he’s full of shit. It struck me as complete bullshit when he said it. I’m just wondering if he made it up out of whole cloth, or if the hospital actually did cut his wages for some reason, and told him it was because of the PPACA to pass the buck. Or some combination thereof. I’m wondering if there’s anything in the law that could be remotely interpreted that way.
A good method for determining the veracity of someone’s claims in this area might be to see if they use the term “Obamacare” when complaining about it. If they do, they are most likely full of shit. So I think you nailed it.
Eh, Affordable Care Act doesn’t exactly flow off the tongue (and a lot of people don’t recognize the name as the one of the new health care bill). And we need to call it something.
Obamacare seems as good a nickname for the bill as anything else. It’s a healthcare act that was pushed for, at least in its general form, by Obama. And its not really a slur against the bill, it relates it to Medicare, which is popular, and Obama who while not as popular as he used to be, is still more popular then many of the bills opponents.