Look, I think everyone deserves to see a physician when they are sick, regardless of their economic status. I’m not saying fuck the poor. Far from it. Hell WE don’t have insurance per se. We have AFLAC and a dental/vision discount plan. But there are some very real consequences of Obamacare that no one is addressing, right OR left.
First and foremost: this healthcare tax will crush small businesses. It’s not some crazed right wing conspiracy theory, it is a FACT. Companies with 50 or more employees must raise prices (A LOT), layoff employees, cut everyone to part time (less than 30 hrs/wk) or at the very least freeze hiring. Think of all the small businesses you patronise. Think about that family owned restaurant chain with a couple of locations. THOSE are the businesses facing bankruptcy or harsh measures to stay afloat. Go read this article from the New York Post, Nov 17, 2012. I’ll wait. Does that clarify it for you?
Many companies will likely choose to pay the penalty instead, which is still expensive — $2,000 per worker multiplied by the entire workforce, after subtracting the statutory exemption for the first 30 workers. For a 50-person company, then, the tax would be $40,000, or $2,000 times 20.
That might not seem like a lot, but for many small businesses that could be the difference between survival and failure. – Michael Tanner, NYPost, 11.17.12
All the dumbasses bitching at John Schnatter (Papa John’s) for his plans to adjust for this tax, saying “well, I’ll pay 10¢ more per pizza!”, are just being reactionary and not seeing the full picture. Sure, raising prices will be one part of the adjustments, but so will cutting employee hours and/or layoffs. The liberals screaming “BOYCOTT” to companies who have publicly stated their plans to add surcharges and cut hours are clearly missing the point. This WILL happen across the board. Just like raising the minimum wage causes price increases across the board, so will Obamacare.
But it’s not the higher prices that we should worry about. It’s the ripple of layoffs, hiring freezes, cut hours and small business closures we should be worried about. You don’t think small business matters? Read this. I’ll wait. This particularly sticks out:
The latest figures show that small businesses create 75 percent of the net new jobs in our economy. -SBA Report
Obamacare will push this country’s fragile economy even further towards collapse. This tax will rot our economy from the inside out. It’s a very bad idea. The restaurant industry will be particularly hard hit. And this is the industry I want to go into, so, yah, it’s important to me.
So, what to do? I propose we do nothing – other than STOP Obamacare. Of course, it’s too late for that. Obama’s raison d’etre is to be remembered as the President Who Gave Everyone Healthcare. Fuck everything else, this is his goal. Fuck the economy, fuck the small businesses, fuck the people who will be laid off or have their hours cut. Fuck all of it, he wants his place in history.
If we could stop Obamacare, then what have we lost? NOTHING. Everything remains as fucked up as it is.
Well, you ask, how is that helping? I’ll tell you: concierge doctors. That is the fancy name given to doctors who don’t take insurance, just cold hard cash. Some offer monthly fees, sort of like a retainer, others just charge you for whatever service you need. They are often not cheap like this 82 year old Illinois doctor that charges $5, but paying $500 for a treatment or even $5000 for a surgery beats the shit out of your $12,000/yr insurance payments with a $5000 deductible. Look at the numbers! Even if you pay only $6000/yr w/ a $2500 deductible, it is still cheaper to PAY CASH. But no one will have cash because we’ll all be paying for coverage we don’t necessarily want with Obamacare.
In one fell swoop, our chance of eventually having a real choice of who we want to take care of us and another small business model is demolished.
Continue reading “Why Obamacare is NOT the Answer”
