Some 30 companies, including mega-corporation McDonalds, have come hat in hand to the federal government seeking exemptions from the requirements of the March 2010 ObamaCare bill, euphemistically named the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.” McDonalds was one minimum wage company offering insurance to part time and low income employees. Such limited benefit plans are popular with companies whose workers couldn’t otherwise afford coverage. ObamaCare rules made the cost of insuring too high.
A Bloomberg article on the exemption reported, “Without the waivers, companies would have had to provide a minimum of $750,000 in coverage next year, increasing to $1.25 million in 2012, $2 million in 2013, and unlimited coverage in 2014.”
Insurance companies like Assurant Health, based in Milwaukee, have been quietly letting go employees. Their niche, pre-ObamaCare, was to provide specialized coverage for small employers and individuals. It involved some creativity. Often, Major Medical coverage with large deductibles allowed their customers to keep insurance costs low, while providing protection for catastrophic illness. Post ObamaCare, that market has evaporated. High deductible policies are outlawed in a “one-size-fits-all” ObamaCare world.
Other companies, insurers and unions affected by the exemption include 800 union members of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, 5000 young adults in the state of Massachusetts universal coverage plan enacted in 2006, 17,347 insured by the United Agricultural Benefit Trust California-based cooperative for farm workers, and 351,000 people, the largest waiver, for the United Federation of Teachers Welfare Fund.
In all, the late September decision by Health and Human Services exempts one million employees for the period of a year. No surprise that the Obama administration is nervous about too many employers dropping plans in the face of the disincentives the legislation has created. No surprise that the exemptions are being granted one month prior to the November election.
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