Little by little, the effects of health-care reform, or Obamacare as it’s commonly known, are starting to come to light. Change in price and type of health insurance, and the availability of public health insurance, will take shape in the coming months.
In July, the Obama administration made a change to one aspect of health-care reform that they said would help make them a friend to American business: They delayed the “employer mandate” provision by one year, to 2015.
The provision has been controversial since it was announced, because it requires businesses with 50 or more full-time employees to provide health insurance.
The Obama administration proclaimed that the delay would give businesses relief they needed as they are still attempting to get back up to full speed.
But will it work? We doubt it will.
Take a look at Middletown, N.J., a Monmouth-County township of approximately 66,552 residents as of the 2010 Census. Just last week, the township cut hours for part-time employees to avoid having to offer them health insurance. The move saves the township an estimated $775,000 per year.
It’s a great move for the township, but not so great for the employees, who now get fewer hours and no health insurance through their employer — and possibly also the residents, who now may have to face a cut in services.
Middletown made the move now, even though the “employer mandate” was pushed back to 2015.
Similar cost-saving tactics could be used in our town, and the question would be: How would that affect our services, and possibly our neighbors’ own wallets?
That is unknown as of yet, but it’s a reality we may have to face not only on the public employment level, but also on the private employment level, as businesses make similar cost-cutting measures.
It just makes no sense to us.
