• info@belibre.org

Problems with Health Care Mandates May Lead to Corporate Bailouts

PRINTABLE VERSION

Problems with Health Care Mandates May Lead to Corporate Bailouts
Congressional Hearing Looks at Impact on Jobs, the Economy
 

(Washington, D.C.) – Problems with the Affordable Care (ACA), also known as Obamacare, are threatening traditional employer-provided care, destabilizing the health insurance marketplace, and making it increasingly likely that insurance companies will seek federal bailouts. As Congress receives expert testimony on the employer mandate today, it's important leaders acknowledge the serious problems with the law.
 
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, requires large employers to offer health insurance to their workers, and also mandates that all Americans purchase federally-approved insurance or pay a tax penalty. While President Obama has suspended the employer mandate for a year, companies are now determining how to comply with a mandate scheduled to take effect in January.
 
Among the courses of action being taken to reduce regulatory costs are downsizings and reduced hours for workers.  The most heavily-impacted are low-skill workers. Furthermore, insurers are also seeing their sector destabilized due to the mandate – which may ultimately bring calls for bailouts to head off bankruptcy due to the Affordable Care Act. Some analysts suggest that the employer mandate may involve such an extraordinary paperwork and administrative burden that it may never be implemented. Amidst all this uncertainty, a hearing is being conducted in the House of Representatives today on the job impact of the employer mandate.
  
Daniel Garza, Executive Director of The LIBRE Initiative released the following statement:

"The problems with the health care law are extremely serious, and they are not going away. Even some of the President's own allies in Congress are admitting the law is not sustainable in its current form. Yet instead of candidly explaining the problems to the American people and seeking bipartisan solutions, the President offers only temporary bandaid fixes. They are politically motivated and they only make real solutions harder to arrive at in the long run.

Tonight's State of the Union address is the perfect time to begin an honest conversation. Hopefully the President will start one."

For interviews with a LIBRE representative, please contact: Judy Pino, 202-578-6424 or Brian Faughnan, 571-257-3309.