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Anyone else being affected by "Obama-Care"?

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Something I am not understanding: My husband works for a company, and has worked for a company, that only hires full time workers. It's always given those workers health insurance for a cut of their check.

Why then are they taking more out of his check now than before? It would make sense if they were being forced to cover more employees or something but they aren't. Are they just using it as an excuse?
 
RDreamer said:
$40 a month is pretty ridiculously low.
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Enron said:
40 dollars a month out of your paycheck? (After your employer credits were applied?) I'm guessing yes. You need to compare it to the total cost of your premium before your employer credits are considered.

There is no way your insurance only (total) costs < 500 dollars a year in premiums.
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Yes thats how much out of my paycheck I have to pay a month, the company pays the rest.

The insurance it self cost the company a lot more, they just only ask the employees to pay a percent (in my cast its just under $40 a month), I know a coworker of mine with a large family has to pay a lot more. Me being single and 27 I'm sure helps.

The actuall cost I do not know, but according to our boss it has went up substantially and cost the company a lot, but instead of asking us all to pay more for it he instead change the plans up.
 
Fiction said:
Something I am not understanding: My husband works for a company, and has worked for a company, that only hires full time workers. It's always given those workers health insurance for a cut of their check.

Why then are they taking more out of his check now than before? It would make sense if they were being forced to cover more employees or something but they aren't. Are they just using it as an excuse?
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That probably has to do with recent Social Security changes. Almost everyone suddenly had more being taken out of their checks this year.
 
Fiction said:
Something I am not understanding: My husband works for a company, and has worked for a company, that only hires full time workers. It's always given those workers health insurance for a cut of their check.

Why then are they taking more out of his check now than before? It would make sense if they were being forced to cover more employees or something but they aren't. Are they just using it as an excuse?
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Could be the insurance company just increased their premiums. Or the increase in payroll tax.
 
im actually shocked companies still offer health care, the job market is very competitive so there is no reason to offer it as a benefit. People are willing to take the job without it.
 
Fiction said:
Something I am not understanding: My husband works for a company, and has worked for a company, that only hires full time workers. It's always given those workers health insurance for a cut of their check.

Why then are they taking more out of his check now than before? It would make sense if they were being forced to cover more employees or something but they aren't. Are they just using it as an excuse?
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Health care cost rise yearly and the increase in premium is being pass on to employees. While some of the increase are justifiable, many do use the new health care reform as a reason to increase the premiums.

As for OP, may be the company you work for should just hire full time employee instead of several part times just to get around paying them proper benefit. I don't understand why as workers we are keep taking it on the chins while the CEO and corporate manager raking in profits and bonuses.
 
Fiction said:
Something I am not understanding: My husband works for a company, and has worked for a company, that only hires full time workers. It's always given those workers health insurance for a cut of their check.

Why then are they taking more out of his check now than before? It would make sense if they were being forced to cover more employees or something but they aren't. Are they just using it as an excuse?
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Payroll tax. Nothing to do with Obamacare.
 
pompidu said:
im actually shocked companies still offer health care, the job market is very competitive so there is no reason to offer it as a benefit. People are willing to take the job without it.
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Thats only semi true I've found, when we were looking for a new employee to fill a need in our creative department, we got literally THOUSANDS of resumes, but only like 5 were actually as qualified as we liked and even less had the personality that would work with the company. There are lots of people in the job market, but not lots of qualified talent it feels like. At least around here. So few of the resumes had long term experience or fit all our needs, making the few that were valuable to us.

We either pay them more and win them over with benefits, our the competition does. We could hire unqualified people but the headache that has caused us in the past was not worth it.
 
I think it's important to keep in mind, that in comparison to other developed nations, the healthcare industry steals from us 8 cents of every dollar we make. Those are the people our ire should be directed at, in addition to our leaders that continue to let them do so.
 
Pagusas said:
The insurance it self cost the company a lot more, they just only ask the employees to pay a percent (in my cast its just under $40 a month), I know a coworker of mine with a large family has to pay a lot more. Me being single and 27 I'm sure helps.
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Yeah, single and 27 helps. I do my insurance as a single person (wife and I get it separate since it's much cheaper that way) and I'm 27 also. My boss pays a much higher percentage than most, and gets us good insurance, but I'm still paying more than $40 a month. I want to say it's like $65 a month (it's been a while since I checked, since everything's direct deposit).
 
antiquegamer said:
Health care cost rise yearly and the increase in premium is being pass on to employees. While some of the increase are justifiable, many do use the new health care reform as a reason to increase the premiums.
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It also depends on the kind of insurance the employer uses. My insurance is self-funded by the employer, and because apparently teachers are an unhealthy bunch, we exceed our budget pretty easily and the cost gets passed onto the premiums the next year.

Fiction said:
Ah yes, that could be it. I haven't actually looked at his pay stubs, just listened to him rant about it :p
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Soooo many people on my friends list were bitching about the payroll tax increase without realizing that the 2% reduction towards SS was always going to expire at some point.
 
pompidu said:
im actually shocked companies still offer health care, the job market is very competitive so there is no reason to offer it as a benefit. People are willing to take the job without it.
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It's tax deductible for the employer. Basically, they're getting the government to pay part of your wages.
 
Pagusas said:
Thats only semi true I've found, when we were looking for a new employee to fill a need in our creative department, we got literally THOUSANDS of resumes, but only like 5 were actually as qualified as we liked and even less had the personality that would work with the company. There are lots of people in the job market, but not lots of qualified talent it feels like. At least around here. So few of the resumes had long term experience or fit all our needs, making the few that were valuable to us.

We either pay them more and win them over with benefits, our the competition does. We could hire unqualified people but the headache that has caused us in the past was not worth it.
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For a job that requires a certain level of experience and skill set, yes this is true. For most american jobs it is not, factory workers, janitors, etc... Most companies want to pay as little as possible but get the job done.
 
TrutaS said:
When these companies face the fact that they do need to hire more people then they will have to accept they have to pay for insurance. And then people will be able to enjoy the healthcare they deserve. It is about empowering the worker. This initial reaction is bound to happen unfortunately.
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yep, the reality is that at some point companies will have to stop the bs if they are going to grow in the future. The ones who dont would have gone out of business anyway
 
pompidu said:
im actually shocked companies still offer health care, the job market is very competitive so there is no reason to offer it as a benefit. People are willing to take the job without it.
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Hahahaha no. Maybe that's true of low-paying jobs, but certainly not anything else.
 
We usually get our reviews and raises in February and its April already. They told us today they are trying to figure out the cost but its such a mess they are still trying to get a handle it.

Let's be honest. Obama administration has done a lousy job getting things ready to launch. Joe Klein from Time magazine, who is very liberal, posted this story yesterday:

Obamacare Imcompetence -
Let me try to understand this: The key incentive for small businesses to support Obamacare was that they would be able to shop for the best deals in health care super-stores—called exchanges. The Administration has had 3 years to set up these exchanges. It has failed to do so.

http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/02/obamacare-incompetence/
 
The agency I just started working with reduced part time hours by 40% to avoid paying health care. Alot of people suddenly found themselves unable to pay their bills. :(

Thankfully I am a full time employee and receive benefits, but I feel badly for the part time staff that just took a huge cut in income.
 
It makes sense.

- Businesses cut employees time down to part-time
- In order to make up the slack, businesses hire more part-time employees
- Obama gets to point to lower unemployment numbers

Sure the middle class is being dismantled systematically, but oh well! Gotta protect those insurance companies.
 
Higgy said:
We usually get our reviews and raises in February and its April already. They told us today they are trying to figure out the cost but its such a mess they are still trying to get a handle it.

Let's be honest. Obama administration has done a lousy job getting things ready to launch. Joe Klein from Time magazine, who is very liberal, posted this story yesterday:

Obamacare Imcompetence -
Let me try to understand this: The key incentive for small businesses to support Obamacare was that they would be able to shop for the best deals in health care super-stores&#8212;called exchanges. The Administration has had 3 years to set up these exchanges. It has failed to do so.

http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/02/obamacare-incompetence/
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It's sucks because those who don't have insurance will have to pay a tax penalty on this year's wages. People can still get health insurance through other means. But, it would actually be cheaper in most cases to pay the tax penalty.
 
Vilix said:
It's sucks because those who don't have insurance will have to pay a tax penalty on this year's wages. People can still get health insurance through other means. But, it would actually be cheaper in most cases to pay the tax penalty.
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And that low penalty the first year is another problem with the plan. The whole theory is to get that big pool of uninsured covered to bring down rates across the board. People will avoid coverage for the first year and no rates will go down. 2nd year is not stiff enough either. Cheaper like you said to pay the penalty for a few years.

What's funny about all this is the Republicans were up in arms about getting it repealed. It might just self destruct on its own if everybody is pissed off about how things go.
 
Vilix said:
It's sucks because those who don't have insurance will have to pay a tax penalty on this year's wages. People can still get health insurance through other means. But, it would actually be cheaper in most cases to pay the tax penalty.
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I wonder if some people will even notice, seeing how they are getting back so much already in tax relief/credits.
 
I don't understand the argument against moving to a (more) publicly-funded healthcare system. Would the same people who cry "ugh socialism!" also say taxes shouldn't pay for police, firefighters, and an interstate? Why is healthcare less important than those things?

Would it be cheaper? Like in Canada or the UK, if you determined how much of your annual taxes goes to healthcare as a percentage of your income, would that be more or less than in the U.S.? Its much less regressive I would imagine, at least.
 
Ace Harding said:
I don't understand the argument against moving to a (more) publicly-funded healthcare system. Would the same people who cry "ugh socialism!" also say taxes shouldn't pay for police, firefighters, and an interstate? Why is healthcare less important than those things?

Would it be cheaper? Like in Canada or the UK, if you determined how much of your annual taxes goes to healthcare as a percentage of your income, would that be more or less than in the U.S.? Its much less regressive I would imagine, at least.
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Much Lower.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_(PPP)_per_capita
 
My boss told me that my health insurance premiums are going up, and that due to increased costs, I'm being paid less this year for the same amount of work.
 
Ace Harding said:
I don't understand the argument against moving to a (more) publicly-funded healthcare system. Would the same people who cry "ugh socialism!" also say taxes shouldn't pay for police, firefighters, and an interstate? Why is healthcare less important than those things?

Would it be cheaper? Like in Canada or the UK, if you determined how much of your annual taxes goes to healthcare as a percentage of your income, would that be more or less than in the U.S.? Its much less regressive I would imagine, at least.
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For the most part the only arguments against moving towards some sort of single payer system are rooted in paranoid delusion and/or an irrational blind faith in unfettered capitalism. "Communism!", etc...
 
soundscream said:
This has been happening in retail over the past 5 years. I have worked for 3 large national companies as part of the stores management. At all 3 companies there was direction from corporate to not schedule employees over what ever the company threshold for benefits (28-32hrs) was.
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What we obviously need is a middle tier

Full time = 34+
More time = 18-33
Part-time = >18
 
Took a look at the calculator and noticed the cost more than doubles for two people compared to one. Why does a couple need to pay $200 more for insurance than two singles? Thankfully, my company has a good health program and will continue to.
 
Is a company required by law to provide insurance if I work 40 hours a week? Because my last job was a full-time office job and I was paid hourly with no benefits..
 
Nope. This years set of healt-care options we were given were pretty much the same as last years. Costs went up a few bucks but not likely anything to do with the Affordable Care Act.

Actually, just found out I am getting a 3.4% raise (very high compared to what most people around here get) and have an additional 6% raise that even my boss isn't sure where it's coming from (it's HIS supervisor that decides these raises, not him, and I've never even met his boss). I think it might be because they are trying to keep wages for this position competitve and as a noob hired out of college 5 years ago I was brought in at the lowest wage they could. Also, I am awesome.

Lots of places were dropping employees hours down to part-time long before ACA. I used to work at Target and they were pulling this same shit several years ago, trying to keep average hours for cashiers/floor workers down below 30 hours a week and just hiring more noobs to fill in the needed hours. All Obamacare has done is give more places an excuse other than "our CEO needs a raise so he can buy a larger golden parachute and keep the board of directors happy".
 
MotherFan said:
Took a look at the calculator and noticed the cost more than doubles for two people compared to one. Why does a couple need to pay $200 more for insurance than two singles? Thankfully, my company has a good health program and will continue to.
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So the spouse will get their own insurance.

That said, the premium for your spouse alone would most likely still be less than your total premium as an individual--that's your contribution + the employer contribution. You need to look at the costs of getting insuring as an individual.
 
I am being affected by capped hours. I also lost my dental insurance at 25 somehow from my dad.I'm still on his health until I turn 26 in January.

I got my 2nd cavity in the past 5 or so years last week :(

Being on his plans have helpedme a lot.
 
Byakuya769 said:
Actually, instead of a discussion of "my unnamed company did this," why don't we name the companies and provide details of the total number of employees. Then we could estimate the likely penalty of not providing care and compare that to their earnings. Then both sides could ground the discussion in facts instead of broad assumptions.
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I find the whole thing a little bizarre; the idea that just now employers are laying off folks for a provision that's nine months away sounds like bullshit to me. I'd want to see some numbers before I saw this as anything but bosses trimming staff in a bad economy and blaming it on Obamacare.
 
itxaka said:
Jesus crist america, get your shit together in regards to healthcare, this is ridiculous, all this discussions and blaming around. The ones to blame are the ones hiking the prices and turning health into a business. Land of the freedom my ass.
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Freedom to get exploited by businesses.
 
Yeah, my family has seen some of the side effects. It's been quite nice actually. Since my mother was fired our houses income has fallen enough that I qualify for financial aid.
 
Rocmisok said:
My biggest problem is that I'm forced to get healthcare now regardless of who it comes from to subsidize those that don't have it. Since healthcare will now be mandatory, it's no wonder costs are going to increase.
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You're not going to penalized for buying healthcare if you can't find insurance that costs less than 8% of your income.
tarzanpuyol said:
Obviously things like that are great, but the problem is access to health care and the biggest road block continues to be cost, which continues to go up.
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There are a number of cost control reforms in ACA.
 
One of the managers I know at Sports Authority went 1 minute over his hours. Got yelled at for doing so. I think greed comes before welfare of the employees.

EDIT-And for the record, 30 hours will now be considered FT starting January 2014, which means I have a feeling they will be cutting more hours.
 
besada said:
I find the whole thing a little bizarre; the idea that just now employers are laying off folks for a provision that's nine months away sounds like bullshit to me. I'd want to see some numbers before I saw this as anything but bosses trimming staff in a bad economy and blaming it on Obamacare.
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You haven't lived until your Applebees waitress decides to rant on her not being able to move to full-time because of Obamacare.
 
So my insurance this year went up again, last year it was because...who knows, this year it's apparently because of Obamacare preparations for next year.

Damn HSA plan this year is more expensive than last year's cheapest PPO plan.

Feels wonderful to get fucked every year by folks who make millions of dollars.
 
Magic Ovaries said:
So my insurance this year went up again, last year it was because...who knows, this year it's apparently because of Obamacare preparations for next year.

Damn HSA plan this year is more expensive than last year's cheapest PPO plan.

Feels wonderful to get fucked every year by folks who make millions of dollars.
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Certain Americans will see their premiums rise depending on what their insurance covered before ACA. If your insurance covers what the federal government defines as the minimum benefit package, then you shouldn't see your premiums go up. If they don't, then you likely will because the company has to pick up those new costs.
 
Dax01 said:
Certain Americans will see their premiums rise depending on what their insurance covered before ACA. If your insurance covers what the federal government defines as the minimum benefit package, then you shouldn't see your premiums go up. If they don't, then you likely will because the company has to pick up those new costs.
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My insurance covered the minimum benefit package and our provider raisedp premiums last year by over 30% and blamed it on obamacare. This while their profits increased and every expense other than payroll decreased YOY.
 
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