The arbitrary rule changes of Obamacare continue.
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The White House announced Thursday a second delay for the employer mandate for mid-size businesses with 50-100 employees, allowing these companies more time to prepare for providing their employees with full coverage in what is being called a phase in approach to implementing Obamacare.
Businesses will now have until 2016 to provide full coverage.
“Officials Thursday said that the delay in the Obamacare mandate will affect 50 percent of the businesses that were supposed to be complying by 2015,” CNBC reports, though there was no comment on how many employees would be affected.
The same mandate that was originally supposed to go into effect in 2014, has already been delayed once.
Politico notes the ongoing criticism of Obamacare by the business community, despite continued delays businesses are getting.
“We’ve gotten a lot of requests to give some more time to some small businesses that would otherwise be subject to this, and we’re responding to that by addressing these businesses,” a senior US Treasury official said about the delays.
“We think a phase-in approach is a way to administer the law better, and enhance overall compliance with the law.”
“The Treasury Department said employers with fewer than 100 workers won’t have to provide health care to their workers in 2015,” Politico notes.
Last week, AOL CEO made headlines when he announced that Obamacare will cost his company $7.1 million, a cost that he may have to pass onto his employees.
“Obamacare is an additional $7.1 million expense for us as a company. So we have to decide whether or not to pass that expense to employees or whether to cut other benefits,” he said on CNBC.
There have been many other accounts of employers forced to cut hours or scale back employees based on forecasts under the Obamacare law.
Last week, the CBO announced that Obamacare will result in the loss of 2.3 million jobs in the economy. What’s more, their projections also estimate that nearly 30 million will remain uninsured under Obamacare.
While millions have been kicked off their health care plans due to rules from Obamacare, others are finding even more difficulty signing up through the health care exchange system, the website for which were originally not working properly.
When people are able to sign up, many are finding their premiums will double, while their coverage is cut.
With all the stories piling up for how bad Obamacare is turning out to be, the White House has been unable to turn the narrative around and find individuals helped under the law.
Last week, following the release of the CBO report, Democrats doubled down on the effects of Obamacare, claiming that the law will free people from their employer-provided health insurance to allow them to follow their dreams.
But if Obamacare cuts jobs, how can one be expected to pursuit their dream without a job, while paying more for substandard health insurance?