As employers and businesses prepare for Obamacare’s sweeping changes and mandates to begin in 2014, many are already laying off some of their employees. An event at Heritage today will discuss the burdens of the law both for small businesses’ ability to hire and grow and individuals’ ability to find jobs. Here are 10 examples of job loss due in whole or part to Obamacare and its consequences:
Medical Device Tax
- 1,000 jobs lost: “Stryker Corporation Confirms Obamacare Layoffs.”
- 275 jobs lost: “Medical Device Tax Blamed for Welch Allyn Layoffs.”
- 100 jobs lost: “Latest Obamacare Casualty: 100 Workers at Smith and Nephew.”
The 2.3 percent excise tax on the sale of medical devices, one of the 18 tax hikes in Obamacare, is estimated to cost the industry over $29 billion between 2013 and 2022. Many employers in the industry are compensating for the tax hike by reducing their labor costs.
Medicare Payment Cuts
- 950 jobs lost: “Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Reengineers Cost Structure, Eliminate Positions.”
- Up to 400 jobs lost: “Orlando Health to Cut Record Number of Jobs to Save Money.”
- 52 Jobs lost: “Delaware Hospice Lays Off 52 Workers amid Federal Changes.”
- 58 jobs lost: “Hospital Layoffs and the Affordable Hea[l]th Care Act.”
Obamacare reduces Medicare spending by $716 billion from 2013 to 2022, with a majority of the payment reductions hitting Medicare Part A providers, which includes hospitals, hospices, skilled nursing facilities, and nursing homes. As these providers are trying to do more with less federal reimbursement, they are laying off their employees to cut down costs.
If Obamacare’s rates remain law, the Medicare trustees predict, “the lower Medicare payment rates would result in negative total facility margins for an estimated 15 percent of hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health agencies by 2019, and this percentage would reach roughly 25 percent in 2030 and 40 percent by 2050.” The payment cuts are simply not sustainable.
Employer Mandate
- At least 7,386 full-time jobs turned part-time: “State Grapples with Insurance Rules for Part-Time Workers.”
- 400 full-time jobs turned part-time: “Health Care Law Brings Double Dose of Trouble for CCAC Part-Time Profs.”
- 300 full-time jobs turned part-time: “Wendy’s Franchisee Slashes Employee Hours to Sidestep Obamacare.”
Obamacare’s employer mandate forces all employers with more than 50 full-time employees, defined as those who work at least 30 hours per week, to provide health insurance for employees or pay a $2,000 penalty for each employee after the first 30 workers. This creates an incentive for businesses to avoid both the penalty and cost of coverage by hiring part-time employees instead of full-time employees, since businesses will not be penalized for failing to provide health insurance to part-time employees. This affects a wide range of American workers, from restaurant employees and college adjunct professors to state government workers.
American workers already can’t afford the high price of Obamacare, and it’s just the beginning: The most egregious parts of the law don’t begin until 2014.