Businesses aren’t the only employers finding ways to
cut health care cost by dumping their employees spouses onto Obamacare, local
governments are too. The Charlotte
Observer reported the following:
But local governments
aren’t simply following the lead of private businesses, said Dr. Adam Zolotor,
president and CEO of the North
Carolina Institute of Medicine, an independent, quasi-state agency.
Rather, they have been
cash-strapped for several years and need to find ways to reduce costs, Zolotor
said. He is not surprised that spouses are being used to contain costs because
they now can seek coverage in the health care marketplace through the Affordable Care
Act.
That trend is likely to
grow in the coming years for the public and private sector alike, said Gary
Claxton, vice president at the Kaiser
Family Foundation, a nonprofit that provides information on health
issues. Nine percent of firms it surveyed last year that offer benefits to
dependents do not allow spouses coverage if they are eligible to receive it
from another source.
The Observer went on to
report that the city of Lincolnton was able to save over $800,000 a year by
dumping all spouses from their health insurance plans onto Obamacare. This would allow employees to save $800 a month
in premiums, while at the same time getting taxpayer funded subsidies through
the ACA.
But that’s okay, because
the federal government has a printing press spitting out dollar bills 24/7. What could possibly go wrong?
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