Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Character, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation, Jobs

An influx of employers are getting rid of health benefits by shrinking their full-time workforce and hiring freelancers in 2016 due to the increase in costs caused by the Affordable Care Act according to a study released Tuesday. Nearly one-third of companies intend to work towards “eliminating” healthcare benefits because of the ACA, the study found, and 60 percent of companies intend to hire more freelance employees than full-time employees.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Obama, Financial, Narrative, Oops, Academia, Socialism, Lie, Healthcare, Regulation

For years, Harvard’s experts on health economics and policy have advised presidents and Congress on how to provide health benefits to the nation at a reasonable cost. But those remedies will now be applied to the Harvard faculty, and the professors are in an uproar.

   Members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the heart of the 378-year-old university, voted overwhelmingly in November to oppose changes that would require them and thousands of other Harvard employees to pay more for health care. The university says the increases are in part a result of the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act, which many Harvard professors championed.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Education, Socialism, Healthcare

Roanoke City Public Schools will become the first area division to outsource its substitutes to a New Jersey-based company. Beginning Jan. 5, Source4Teachers will staff the city’s substitute teachers, substitute aides and substitute clerical workers. The move to privatize subs will cost about $1.6 million, and it is unclear whether it will save money. Officials have said it will help tame costs associated with the Affordable Care Act, as well as the law’s tracking and reporting requirements.

Democrat, Hypocrisy, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Lie, Healthcare

Obamacare plans have shrunk payments to physicians so much that some doctors say they won’t be able to afford to accept Obamacare coverage, NPR reports. Many of the eight million sign-ups in Obamacare exchanges nationwide already face more limited choices for physicians and hospitals than those in the private insurance market. But with low physician reimbursement rates, the problem could get even worse.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Law, Regulation

Supporters of President Obama’s health care law had predicted that expanding insurance coverage for the poor would reduce costly emergency room visits as people sought care from primary care doctors. But a rigorous new study conducted in Oregon has flipped that assumption on its head, finding that the newly insured actually went to the emergency room more often.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Narrative, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Law, Regulation

The Obama administration has told Vista volunteers and other AmeriCorps workers that their government-provided health coverage does not measure up to the standards of the new health care law, and that they may be subject to financial penalties unless they obtain insurance elsewhere... Vista members may be required to pay a tax penalty if they do not have other coverage and do not receive an exemption. The impact on community service workers is another unanticipated consequence of the health care law...

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Character, Oops, Socialism, Lie, Healthcare, Regulation

San Francisco architect Lee Hammack says he and his wife, JoEllen Brothers, are "cradle Democrats." They have donated to the liberal group Organizing for America and worked the phone banks a year ago for President Obama’s re-election... The couple — Lee, 60, and JoEllen, 59 — have been paying $550 a month for their health coverage — a plan that offers solid coverage, not one of the skimpy plans Obama has criticized. But recently, Kaiser informed them the plan would be canceled at the end of the year because it did not meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. The couple would need to find another one. The cost would be around double what they pay now, but the benefits would be worse. “From all of the sob stories I’ve heard and read, ours is the most extreme,” Lee told me in an email last week.

Democrat, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

A national study of the Affordable Care Act shows people in New Mexico who buy health insurance on their own could face a huge spike in their premium costs... The study says that New Mexico, at 130 percent,will see the steepest rate hike, followed by Vermont (97 percent), South Dakota (83 percent) and Connecticut (50 percent).

Democrat, Liberal, Union, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Jobs

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said Thursday that Obamacare’s negative effect on creating more part-time hires by employers trying to avoid the mandate was a consequence “no one intended” that still needed to be addressed... “Employers are trying to plan their future by creating a work force that gets 29-and-a-half hours or less a week so they don’t have to pay health care,” Trumka said.

Democrat, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

The University of Virginia will no longer provide insurance coverage to the working spouses of its employees, a move university officials hope will save “millions of dollars.” Starting Jan. 1, employee spouses who have health insurance coverage under their employers cannot get coverage under UVa’s plan. If the spouse is covered under a plan defined by the Affordable Care Act as “minimum value” and “affordable,” he or she will no longer be eligible.

Democrat, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Jobs

Reuters reported Wednesday that, while the US economy created around 1 million new jobs this year, three-quarters of these jobs are part-time. Most are in the low-wage retail and restaurant sector. Concerns over ObamaCare and its health insurance mandate is the prime driver of the push to part-time employment. "[Businesses] have put some of the full-time positions on hold and are hiring part-time employees so they won't have to pay out the benefits," Client Staffing Solutions' Darin Hovendick told Reuters. "There is so much uncertainty. It's really tough to design a budget when you don't know the final cost involved."

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Socialism, Healthcare, Jobs

NBC News spoke with almost 20 small businesses and other entities from Maine to California, and almost all said that because of the new law they’d be cutting back hours for some employees – an unintended consequence of the new law.

Democrat, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Funny, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

Dozens of lawmakers and aides are so afraid that their health insurance premiums will skyrocket next year thanks to Obamacare that they are thinking about retiring early or just quitting. The fear: Government-subsidized premiums will disappear at the end of the year under a provision in the health care law that nudges aides and lawmakers onto the government health care exchanges, which could make their benefits exorbitantly expensive.

Democrat, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

A third of Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s customers who buy individual policies – or about 125,000 residents – should prepare for unusually large rate increases, according to the Chapel Hill company... The rate plans are anticipated as a barometer of North Carolina’s emerging health care landscape that will take shape under the Affordable Care Act, the 2010 federal law that takes effect in less than seven months.

Democrat, Liberal, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Jobs

The nation's largest movie theater chain has cut the hours of thousands of employees, saying in a company memo that ObamaCare requirements are to blame. Regal Entertainment Group, which operates more than 500 theaters in 38 states, last month rolled back shifts for non-salaried workers to 30 hours per week, putting them under the threshold at which employers are required to provide health insurance. The Nashville-based company said in a letter to managers that the move was a direct result of ObamaCare.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

Universal Orlando plans to stop offering medical insurance to part-time employees beginning next year, a move the resort says has been forced by the federal government's health-care overhaul. The giant theme-park resort, which generates more than $1 billion in annual revenue, began informing employees this month that it will offer health-insurance to part-timers "only until December 31, 2013."

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

President Obama's health care law will push 7 million people out of their job-based insurance coverage — nearly twice the previous estimate, according to the latest estimates from the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday. CBO said that this year's tax cuts have changed the incentives for businesses and made it less attractive to pay for insurance, meaning fewer will decide to do so.

Democrat, Liberal, Tax, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Jobs

A medical company is blaming President Obama’s health care law for the layoffs of nearly 100 people. Smith & Nephew says a 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices in the “Obamacare” law caused the layoffs in the Memphis and Andover, Mass., offices. “The nearly $30 billion tax on medical devices that took effect Jan. 1, 2013, has impacted a number of companies across the U.S.,” the company said in a statement to WHBQ-TV.

Democrat, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

A southwestern Pennsylvania hospital will stop delivering babies after March 31 because its obstetricians are either leaving or refocusing their practices, and because hospital officials believe they can't afford it based on projected reimbursements under looming federal health care reforms.

Government, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Jobs

A fast-food chain is slashing employee hours so franchise owners don’t have to pay health benefits. Around 100 local Wendy’s workers have learned their hours are being cut. A spokesperson says a new health care law is to blame... The company has announced that all non-management positions will have their hours reduced to 28 a week. Gary Burdette, Vice President of Operations for the local franchise, says the cuts are coming because the new Affordable Health Care Act requires employers to offer health insurance to employees working 32-38 hours a week.

Democrat, Liberal, Tax, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation, Jobs

Andre DiMino has been running medical device company ADM Tronics since his father, who founded the decades-old firm, died in 2001. He's never laid off anybody. "These people are like family with us," he said. The boss might not be able to hold out much longer. Come Jan. 1, an ObamaCare-tied tax specific to his industry is expected to go into effect. Though the Obama administration has downplayed the impact, DiMino calls it "devastating." "I think after all of these decades of not laying people off, I think we may have to face that," DiMino told FoxNews.com. He predicted he might have to immediately lay off three people in his manufacturing division and possibly more after that.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

Health insurance premiums may as much as double for some small businesses and individual buyers in the U.S. when the Affordable Care Act’s major provisions start in 2014, Aetna Inc. (AET)’s chief executive officer said. While subsidies in the law will shield some people, other consumers who make too much for assistance are in for “premium rate shock,” Mark Bertolini, who runs the third-biggest U.S. health-insurance company, told analysts yesterday at a conference in New York.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

Health insurer Blue Shield of California wants to raise rates as much as 20% for some individual policyholders, prompting calls for the nonprofit to use some of its record-high reserve of $3.9 billion to hold down premiums... The company also expects higher costs from an influx of new customers under the federal healthcare law in 2014... Even with these proposed rate increases, Blue Shield said, it expects to lose money in the individual insurance market in 2013.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation

Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, plans to begin denying health insurance to newly hired employees who work fewer than 30 hours a week, according to a copy of the company’s policy obtained by The Huffington Post... Labor and health care experts portrayed Walmart’s decision to exclude workers from its medical plans as an attempt to limit costs while taking advantage of the national health care reform known as Obamacare.

Democrat, Liberal, Obama, Brilliance, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Jobs

In an experiment apparently aimed at keeping down the cost of health-care reform, Orlando-based Darden Restaurants has stopped offering full-time schedules to many hourly workers in at least a few Olive Gardens, Red Lobsters and LongHorn Steakhouses.

Democrat, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Socialism, Healthcare

As many as 20 million Americans could lose their employer-provided coverage because of President Obama's healthcare reform law, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in a new report Thursday.

Democrat, Liberal, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

WASHINGTON—Aerospace giant Boeing is joining the list of companies that say the new health care law could have a potential downside for their workers. In a letter mailed to employees late last week, the company cited the overhaul as part of the reason it is asking some 90,000 nonunion workers to pay significantly more for their health plan next year.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Socialism, Healthcare

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Doctors in America are harboring an embarrassing secret: Many of them are going broke. This quiet reality, which is spreading nationwide, is claiming a wide range of casualties, including family physicians, cardiologists and oncologists... Doctors list shrinking insurance reimbursements, changing regulations, rising business and drug costs among the factors preventing them from keeping their practices afloat.

Democrat, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation

The number of prescription drug shortages shot up to a record 267 in 2011, nearly four times the level of just seven years ago, a new report says. It's a shortage made in Washington. The number of drug shortages rose by 56 in 2011 from 211 in 2010, according to a study by the University of Utah Drug Information Service.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Healthcare

The percentage of American adults who lack health insurance coverage has not only increased during the presidency of Barack Obama, but it has continued to increase since Obama signed his signature piece of legislation last year mandating that by 2014 every American carry health insurance, according to a Gallup survey released today.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

President Barack Obama's health care law would let several million middle-class people get nearly free insurance meant for the poor, a twist government number crunchers say they discovered only after the complex bill was signed.

Socialism, Healthcare

Emergency room visits have been on the rise in Massachusetts since the passage of the 2006 health care law, much to the chagrin of supporters who projected that the opposite would happen as more people had insurance and were connected with primary care providers.

Democrat, Editorial, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

For example, it says, the law may “remove members of Congress and Congressional staff” from their current coverage, in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, before any alternatives are available. The confusion raises the inevitable question: If they did not know exactly what they were doing to themselves, did lawmakers who wrote and passed the bill fully grasp the details of how it would influence the lives of other Americans?

Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

In an unintended consequence of the new health care law, drug companies have begun notifying children’s hospitals around the country that they no longer qualify for large discounts on drugs used to treat rare medical conditions.

Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

"Friday [New Year's Eve] marked the last day physician-owned hospitals could get Medicare certification covering their new or expanded hospitals, one of the latest provisions of the reform law to go into effect."

Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

AARP's endorsement helped secure passage of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Now the seniors' lobby is telling its employees their insurance costs will rise partly as a result of the law. In an e-mail to employees, AARP says health care premiums will increase by 8 percent to 13 percent next year because of rapidly rising medical costs.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare

While only 7% of employees will be forced to switch to subsidized-exchange programs, at least 30% of companies say they will “definitely or probably” stop offering employer-sponsored coverage, according to the study published in McKinsey Quarterly.