ObamaCare strikes again? McDonalds may drop health plan

Those of us who fought against ObamaCare knew stuff like this was coming down the pike.  The Wall Street Journal has a story up saying McDonalds may have to dump the health plan for its 30,000 hourly employees because of cost.

WSJ: Trade groups representing restaurants and retailers say low-wage employers might halt their coverage if the government doesn’t loosen a requirement for “mini-med” plans, which offer limited benefits to some 1.4 million Americans.

The requirement concerns the percentage of premiums that must be spent on benefits.

While many restaurants don’t offer health coverage, McDonald’s provides mini-med plans for workers at 10,500 U.S. locations, most of them franchised. A single worker can pay $14 a week for a plan that caps annual benefits at $2,000, or about $32 a week to get coverage up to $10,000 a year.

Last week, a senior McDonald’s official informed the Department of Health and Human Services that the restaurant chain’s insurer won’t meet a 2011 requirement to spend at least 80% to 85% of its premium revenue on medical care.

Everybody is now coming out saying that the Wall Street Journal story is not true (well sort of). What McDonald’s and Health and Human Services aren’t denying is that they are talking about the effects (i.e. waivers) of ObamaCare.

h/t: The Right Scoop

Right now, no one wants to admit the ill effects of ObamaCare, however reality will sooner or later make this a moot point.  The government simply cannot set one size fits all rules for something as expensive as health care and expect that everyone can easily comply.  To make matters worse,  ObamaCare’s low penalty makes dumping employee’s health coverage for more cost effective than supplying coverage.

 For more info on this story check out the Weekly Standard and then follow the discussion on Memeorandum.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The Wall Street Journal

Via: The Right Scoop

Via: The Weekly Standard