Some Health Care Reform Stupidity You’ve Probably Not Heard Yet

The Devil, as they say, is in the details. The only certainty is that government meddling has unintended consequences.

The Senate version of health care reform includes a provision that will penalize small business with more than 50 employees that provide health insurance to their workers.

Employees who are eligible for the Federal health insurance subsidy may choose to opt out of their employer-based insurance in favor of the insurance exchange created by the reform bill. For each employee who opts out the company can be penalized with up to $3,000 in extra taxes. And, the eligibility of the employee is determined by his family situation - working spouse, number of children, etc – things not under the control of the employer.

Furthermore, if enough employees (25%) opt out, the tax penalties may be enough to incentivize the company to drop its health insurance altogether since the penalty for providing NO insurance will be less than the penalty for providing insurance to employees who qualify for federal insurance subsidies.

Probable Effects:
1. Some companies will intentionally avoid hiring people who qualify for subsidies

2. Some companies will drop their health insurance plans resulting in significant health insurance cost increases to their employees who do not qualify for subsidies.

As usual, government is coming to “help” us! The details of this particular stupidity can be found in the article, "How the Senate Health Bill Punishes Businesses That Hire Low-Income Workers", By Robert A. Book, Ph.D. and published by The Heritage Foundation

Quote of the Day:
“What does Sarah Palin know about economic policy or foreign policy? Good question. But let us put the question in context. What does President Obama know about economic policy or foreign policy after a year on the job that he doesn’t need to unlearn (and fast)?”
Christopher Chantrill in the American Thinker

Universal Health Care
"Build a Health Care Bill: We Can Do It Better Than Congress"
Link to the "Build a Health Care Bill" Idea Log