"Obamacare" question

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My friend is claiming his insurance rate doubled following the implementation of “Obamacare.”

He said “My insurance premiums almost double last year, it’s seems to be only the working people participating while the non working benefit.” We’ve discussed this at length and I asked for more info.

He then claimed “My plan went from 244.00 to 407.00, according to company HR the premium increase was a direct result of obamacare, our company (Name deleted, but I could not identify this small company on the internet at all), owns several businesses and were able to extend great rates due to the number of combined employees, however a clause in obamacare does not allow them to combine employees, each entity had to apply separately. I am currently on a leave of absent while I build my home, my insurance ends at the end of June. If I’m not back full time, needless to say I’m going back, already looked into ACA @ 585.00, with a 5000.00 deductible, no thank you.” We discussed this a bit. I think it’s BS. I asked hi if he had more info about this so-called clause, but he does not.

But now he claims “Our main office is in (Southern state), our employees in (Midwestern state) and (another Midwestern state) are paying double what we are paying.”

Frankly I think he’s lying, but he could be misinformed.

Anyone know about this “clause?”

2

Nevermind- I thing I figured out what happened. Mods may disappear this thread.

3

I’d be interested to know what it was…

4

If I could afford to take a leave of absence from my job in order to build a house, I wouldn’t even be fazed by a $160/month hike.

5

What I think is happening is that the employer divided his already small company to groups of 25 or less to take advantage of a generous tax rebate offered to small businesses to encourage them to provide health insurance to employees. The tax break allows the employer to get a credit for up to 50% of the employers portion of the health insurance bill.

But, since the group of insured is now smaller, and the employer did not change ‘brands’ of insurance, and that those two things combined with the new required coverage requirements caused my friends rates to increase, which he thinks is “Obamacare.”

Now, my friend hates Obama, Obamacare, claims to be a Tea Party Libertarian, and when I suggested to him that his employer might be doing all the above, my friend said it was OK if his company got a discount that they didn’t pass on to employees because ‘free market.’

The employer mandates to provide insurance to employees are different for small companies with 25, 50 and 100 employees. The mandates for small businesses with 50 and 100 plus employees don’t even go in to effect until 2105 and 2016, respectively, so his claim that Obamacare made his rates ‘double’ just didn’t make sense. Companies with less than 25 employees are not required this year to provide insurance so the generous tax breaks were designed to encourage them to do so.

6

I’m still chatting with my friend about his complaints about Obamacare.

He said “Look I’m done, the (company I work for) has been for around years they own five different companies and a lot of other unrelated companies, I am quiet certain the HR and lawyer depts know what they are doing. They have barely scratch the surface on what the law may or may not effect, your beloved administration can’t explain the law in depth, the dots for obamacare are laid out and dark if you have not connected them by now it’s only because you don’t want to. My personal experience and everyone I have talked to about obamacare has been negative. Sorry until I SEE otherwise my mind is made up.”
Using my friends figures, and assuming that he is telling the truth and I understand the new rules correctly, I think it turned out like this:
Friend used to pay $244 a month for insurance, or $2928 a year. The company paid 75% of the plan, so the plan cost $11,712 a year with the company paying $8784 of the total.

The new plan costs $407 a month, or $4884 a year. The company still pays 75% of the plan, so the new plan costs $19,536 a year, with the company paying $14,652.

Under the old plan, with the new Obamacare ‘up to 50%’ tax credit for small businesses, the employer could have gotten as much as a $4,392 credit. Under the new plan, with the 50% government tax break, the employer gets a $7,326 credit.

The company has made a profit of nearly $3,000 per person, or $75,000 a year (if he has 25 employees).

If the company had shopped for a better priced plan or had not divided the company, which would have benefited employees, it would have reduced their profit by nearly $75,000.

In this case, it actually paid the employer to divide the group and to keep insurance rates high for employees.

Very interesting.

7

He’s an odd bird, anyway. He used to be in construction but was terrible at it and was sued at least once for poor work.

8

And, of course, told everyone that it was the government’s fault and not a decision within the business that raised rates, further perpetuating the myth that government is always bad and a thief and private business owners always benevolent and victimized.

9

Exactly! And, since the employer now has several locations according to my friend, he could have scored about half a million in tax credits all while blaming Obamacare for my friend’s higher costs.

The weirdest part is my friend totally supports this because “business good, government bad.”

10

Isn’t it convenient how short human memories are?
Before the ACA passed (and perhaps spurring that passage), I think it was Blue Shield or Blue Cross (or whichever is the name of that nation-spanning insurance company) that got blasted by the news for filing plans to triple premiums across the board. When the California Insurance commission asked for justification of those hikes, they didn’t believe the explanations and the general public didn’t either. I remember coworkers around here complaining, "That looks bad for the entire insurance industry – not just health care, but vehicles, homes, liabilities, everything. Even if you hate the promoter (Obama) for whatever reason, the New Blue Premiums make Universal Healthcare look good in comparison.

And he’s taken a leave to build his own house. :eek:
I would not be inclined to live near that dwelling.

–G!
Uh-oh
Oh, No!
Don’t let the rain come down

My roof’s got a hole in it
and I might drown

Oh yes My roof’s got a hole in it
and I might drown

…–Serendipity Singers
…Crooked Little Man

11

You should just tell your friend that its a tax on the stupid.