re: #386 Aceofwhat?

i agree. it will lead some of them to consider ending the benefit. it’s not apocalyptic in the least, but neither is it bad faith on their part, no matter what Waxman sputters.

i’m frankly more concerned that such an obvious side effect is so incomprehensible to the Waxmans of the world than i am about the side effect itself.

Ah, government. “If you think our problems are bad, wait until you see our solutions…”

This is the reason that a lot of large companies opposed HCR. It’s a huge benefit (no pun intended) that they can afford to pay for benefits for employees while a lot of little companies can not.

It’s really hard for people to leave jobs because good benefits are a big perk and that stifles entrepreneurship. I also am a principle in a small company and it hurts us. We lose talented people because they go to companies where benefits are part of the package. We just can’t compete and it sucks.

Not to mention that I’ve spent the vast majority of the last 7 years without health insurance. (I’ve had two surgeries in the past 5 years, which puts me in a risk pool. Even catastrophic coverage is stratospheric in cost).

Also, I ponder why we’re (and by we I mean the people with whom I own a company) are responsible for making sure that someone has health insurance? Why the heck is that somehow a corporate responsibility. I’m all for being a good corporate citizen and all, but even if we COULD afford to pay for benefits, there’re a lot of other things we could be doing with that money, like hiring additional people, marketing, buying some new frakking computers so that people stop calling their poor tired network admin.

The amount of money that the government spends subsidizing people’s health care in one way or another is crazy. If it’s not direct (Medicare, Medicaid, VA benefits, indigent care, etc.) it’s indirect through tax writeoffs either on a corporate or a personal level (and yes, you can take medical off your taxes… if it’s over 10% AGI.)