Obamacare

[Spark]

A restaurant owner in West Palm Beach, FL, has decided that cutting the hours of his employees isn't the only way he's going to pay for their health care. John Metz, the owner of 40 Denny’s franchise restaurants in the state of Florida, franchisor for Hurricane Grill & Wings and owner of RREMC Restaurants, which operates several Denny's and Dairy Queen locations, is adding a five percent surcharge to the bills of customers to cover what he thinks will be the increased costs of Obamacare. Oh, and he's still cutting employees hours.

Metz feels as though this is his only option. "If I leave the prices the same, but say on the menu that there is a 5 percent surcharge for Obamacare, customers have two choices. They can either pay it and tip 15 or 20 percent, or if they really feel so inclined, they can reduce the amount of tip they give to the server, who is the primary beneficiary of Obamacare...Although it may sound terrible that I'm doing this, it's the only alternative. I've got to pass the cost on to the consumer," he explained.

Metz allegedly plans to begin his program in January 2014, when Obamacare is implemented in full. Hurricane Grill & Wings has 48 locations; five are corporate owned. RREMC Restaurants runs about 40 Denny's locations and multiple Dairy Queens.

Metz insists that he's not anti-insurance, saying that the expense of coverage for full-time employees is currently $5,000-$6,000 a year. He says he'd like to cover all of his employees under that, but "to pay $5,000 per employee would cost us $175,000 per restaurant, and unfortunately, most of our restaurants don't make $175,000 a year. I can't afford it."

Metz also claims that the surcharge is being added to make a statement (oh, word?). "We're trying to get more restaurant operators rallied around the concept of adding a 5 percent surcharge to their bill to cover the costs of Obamacare as opposed to raising prices." So, if people decide not to eat at his restaurants, then who's to blame?

[via The Huffington Post]

[Spark]

Applebee's is making clear that it is not on a firing rampage because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) after one franchisee was quoted saying that Obamacare is leading to a hiring and building freeze.

Zane Tankel, chairman and CEO of Apple-Metro, an Applebee franchisee for the New York metropolitan area, told Fox Business last week, "We've calculated it will [cost] some millions of dollars across our system. So what does that say — that says we won't build more restaurants. We won't hire more people."

Apple-Metro did not immediately return requests for comment. The company owns 40 Applebee's franchise restaurants.

Threats to boycott Applebee's have gone ablaze on Twitter after the interview, with one Twitter user writing with the hashtag #BoycottApplebees: "Hey @Applebees, Firing workers for political reasons is WRONG! My family will BOYCOTT YOU until you change your policy!"

Applebee's International president, Mike Archer, made clear that Tankel was speaking of his own accord.

"Recent public comments by one Applebee's franchisee about the possible implications of the ACA on jobs within his individual company were not the views or opinions of either Applebee's or other franchisees, although we respect his right to speak freely as an American," Archer said in a statement. "Importantly, it is also worth noting that this franchisee opened a new restaurant last week that created approximately 200 jobs, and will be opening another restaurant next month with a similar number of positions. Applebee's and our franchisees remain committed to growing our business and providing opportunities for employees in the future."

Andy Kropa/Getty ImagesCEO of Apple-Metro Inc Zane Tankel speaks at... View Full Size Andy Kropa/Getty ImagesCEO of Apple-Metro Inc Zane Tankel speaks at the Camp Brooklyn charity auction at Mickey Mantle's Restaurant & Sports Bar, Dec. 9, 2009, in New York City.
Archer said that the company and its franchise owners "recognize that affordable health care is a critically important issue facing our country."

"Because final regulations and guidance are still pending from government agencies regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), exactly how our franchisees will implement the law when it takes effect in 2014 is still uncertain," Archer said. "However, we do know that our franchisees will comply fully with the law and take every measure possible to continue doing right by their employees -- the lifeblood of their businesses. Applebee's franchisees have always led their companies as responsible, caring employers, and implementation of the new law will be consistent with that commitment."

Tankel said his restaurants employ 80 to 300 people per location. In the interview with Fox Business, he said restaurants can't raise prices in the current environment.

"I'm sure all our people are watching this right now so I don't want to make any commitments one way or another," Tankel said. "I want to simply say we're looking at it. We're evaluating it. If it's possible to do without cutting people back, I'm delighted to do it. But that also rolls back expansion. It rolls back hiring more people. And in the best case scenario, we only shrink the labor force minimally."

Papa John's CEO and Mitt Romney supporter John Schnatter last week also said he would likely reduce workers' hours as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

Back in August, Schnatter said Papa John's pizza prices would increase by about 14 cents for a large pizza. His comments led some Facebook users to comment on Papa John's Facebook page that they would pay the extra 14 cents in order for employees to have health care.

In response, the company clarified Schnatter's comments, saying his remarks were in direct response to a question about the costs of complying with President Obama's health care law.

"We certainly understand the importance of healthcare to our customers, our employees, small business owners and their employees," the company said in a statement.

[10DimeBry]

Applebees among many other chain restaurants will be cutting hours to avoid mandatory insurance
Millions are going to be thrown onto govt system and taxes will eventually skyrocket.

Bottom line. Everyone cost on good and services will be higher. There is no escaping it.
Full time jobs will decrease by millions. Its what the ppl voted for. GL with all that.

Come Jan the welfare state arrives. Congrats libs

[Spark]

Papa John's CEO John Schnatter’s recent statement that the Affordable Care Act will force the pizza chain to raise prices came as good news to Nick Martin.

Martin, a part owner of Ian’s Pizza, a pizza shop with four locations in Wisconsin, said his business has offered full heath care coverage to its 50 full-time employees for years, making it all the more difficult to compete with national chains like Papa John's that pay workers low wages without health benefits.

"This may level the playing field for us,” Martin said of the Papa John's price hike. “If they have to pay for benefits, and that pushes their prices up closer to ours, it will justify what we’ve been paying for and what we’ve been fighting to do the past few years.” (Ian's knows a bit about fighting, having fed demonstrators free slices during last year's protests in Madison.)

Like many of the 60 percent of small businesses that pay employees health benefits, Ian's Pizza has struggled to compete with national chains that enter local markets and undercut existing prices. But Obamacare may give local businesses some breathing room as national chains lose the advantage they once wielded through not providing health insurance, according to Jonathan Gruber, a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Obamacare mandates that businesses with more than 50 workers offer an approved insurance plan or pay a penalty of $2,000 for each full-time worker over 30. “Evidence suggests that when health insurance costs go up, worker wages fall, rather than prices going up,” Gruber said. “If firms are forced to give their workers health insurance, they generally react by paying workers less in wages; they don’t raise the price of goods."

However, in the case of Papa John's, a portion of its employees are already paid at minimum wage, Gruber pointed out. "So you can’t reduce wages for those employees, and the firm may have to increase prices a little bit,” he said.

But Gruber emphasized that such price hikes will likely be small, meaning local business owners shouldn’t expect their prices to become that much more competitive compared to the big guys.

"A lot of what drives statements like those of Papa John’s CEO are politics, not economics," Gruber said.

Schnatter, a Romney supporter who held a fundraiser for the former Republican nominee, said in August that Obamacare would cost the company between 11 and 14 cents per pizza. Subsequent analysis by Caleb Melby of Forbes found that the price increase would actually be closer 3.4 to 3.6 cents per pie.

“It’s not going to have much of an effect on the gap in prices between Papa John's and smaller competitors,” Gruber said. “That gap is much more about the efficiencies that come from being a large operator, being able to buy in bulk and things like that.”

Still, small business owners who already offer employees health insurance reported feeling a sense of vindication upon hearing that large restaurant chains are now being forced to consider a cost that they’ve shouldered for years.

“I’d tell Papa John's' CEO, ‘Welcome to the club,’” Martin said. “We’ve battled the whole way giving health insurance to employees ever since we could afford to do it 9 years ago, as a two-year-old business.”

[10DimeBry]

And folks just wait til you see all the new taxes levied on everyone.

Obama said no new taxes on middle class.....LMAO.

Obamacare has 6 new taxes that hit everyone regardless of income.

Ps I'm still trying figure out where in the constitution it mentions healthcare?
Its certainly not "general welfare".

[Spark]

Darden Restaurants Inc., the parent company of Atlanta area eateries Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse and Bahama Breeze, is cutting hours of full-time workers to shift them to part-time in an effort to reduce costs associated with health care reform.

The Orlando-based company operates chains in other states that include Seasons 52, Eddie V’s and Capital Grille.

The Orlando Sentinel reported on Tuesday that Darden has stopped offering full-time schedules to many hourly workers, and is limiting workers to 28 hours a week in four unidentified markets “to help us address the cost implications health care reform will have on our business.” The test program will determine whether it is a viable option in dealing with additional health care costs.

Under the federal Affordable Care Act, known commonly as Obamacare, companies with at least 50 employees must provide health insurance, starting in 2014, to all those who work at least 30 hours a week. Those that don't will pay a penalty of $2,000 per uninsured worker after the first 30. It's not clear if any of Darden's Georgia restaurants are involved in the pilot program.

Darden operates some 2,000 restaurants and has 100,000 workers company wide. It now offers traditional health insurance to full-time workers, and a limited-benefits plan to many of its other workers.

A recent national survey indicates that Darden is just one of many employers in the hotel, restaurant and retail sectors that are considering taking similar action to avoid having to cover their health care once the national insurance mandate takes effect.

The survey, which was conducted by national insurance brokerage Mercer, found that 67 percent of retail and hospitality employers are inclined to change their workforce strategy in some way so that fewer employees meet the 30 hours a week threshold for being insured.

RELATED: Small business owners believe economic conditions worse under Obama

The impact on an already sluggish economic recovery (1.2 percent GDP growth for the 2nd Q) of tens of thousands of workers seeing their income drop can only be continued slowing of growth.

Darden was one of roughly 1,200 companies that were granted waivers that exempted them from having to comply with the new law until 2014. While Republicans use the waivers as an opportunity to advance the argument that Obamacare is “unworkable”, HHS argues that it proves the law is “flexible”.

[Spark]

A Doctors take

Tuesday night's win in the presidential contest for President Obama was a win for ObamaCare, the president's signature legislation from his first term. ObamaCare will now continue to be implemented.

This future means that we will continue to be faced with rising insurance premiums, as our current insurance expands to cover all patients regardless of pre-existing condition, age, or how many times they've already used the policy.

Insurance will continue to follow a one-size-fits all model, where it is easy to overuse but may not cover our latest expensive technology which offer more personalized solutions.

Federal regulations in the form of Medicare's Independent Payment Advisory Board as well as ObamaCare's many other committees will restrict my choices for my patients. I will have more patients with more red tape and less time to spend with them.

Since ObamaCare does not effectively address the doctor shortage, you will see more nurse practitioners and physicians assistants, who are quite competent, but have different training than I have treating patients.

Medical care will be shifted more and more to the hospital and medical center, which are more equipped to preserve their bottom line profits despite increasing federal regulations.

Accountable Care Organizations under the Affordable Care Act will focus more on quality of care as opposed to fee for service, which large groups and medical centers are more equipped to implement.

Doctors will cherry-pick their patients, staying away from those who are too sick to allow them to apply for financial incentives.

ObamaCare can only afford to extend health insurance entitlements to more people through increased taxes or penalties (payroll tax for Medicare, individual and business mandates, tax on medical devices, etc.).

If the current economic climate continues, small businesses will be reluctant to add more employees and large businesses will prefer to pay the ObamaCare penalty than pay the increasing premiums.

More and more people will get their health insurances at the state exchanges, where taxes pay for federal stipends in states which have created their own exchanges.

There will be a disparity of services provided depending on your state. Medicaid expansion offered to 16 million more people will also vary depending on whether your state can afford to implement it or not. Medicaid lacks sufficient providers or networks to provide care, and the expansion makes this problem far worse.

President Obama's victory on election night is not a victory for health care, though it may be a narrow one for health insurance companies who gain more customers.

Prices will continue to rise and access to actual care will decline in an already overcrowded system.

Biotech companies and drug companies may feel that the climate is no longer ripe for innovation.

Hospitals and other health care providers will continue to struggle amid shrinking reimbursements.

Bottom line: my patients who gain a new insurance card may find that it doesn't buy them the care they were expecting.

[kbsooner21]

[10DimeBry]

Fun times ahead for everyone in America

[meaiken]

Yet the peopel who don't care to work, benifit for hard working people's jobs.


FUCK THE SYSTEM!!!!!

[ctt8410]

So a bunch of corporate chains that pay all their employees minimum wage and overcharge for unhealthy food made from the lowest quality ingredients are losing money on this?

We should have passed this thing years ago.

[10DimeBry]

So a bunch of corporate chains that pay all their employees minimum wage and overcharge for unhealthy food made from the lowest quality ingredients are losing money on this?

We should have passed this thing years ago.

You don't have to eat at these places. I'm sure in your world govt will tell us what we can and cannot eat. I bet you are all for that. I bet you are for govt telling u what kinda car you can drive what kinda light bulb can use and on and on. Just a puppet. Do as govt demands. It's for the "greater good"....LMAO bunch of fools. At what point does personal responsibility take affect?

[Hoopster007]

I work in the insurance industry and while I am pissed off that the idiot and his puppets won the election, I am going to sit and wait until all the complaining begins when this disaster gets fully implemented. Rates are already disgustingly high and DR offices are crowded. Now prices will continue to go up to account for people with existing conditions joining to system. Meanwhile, more people get "free" healthcare in the form of medicaid and the system becomes even more crowded. And of course there are the taxes that will continue to increase to pay for this disaster. It will create some business for me but there still will be a big problem. People with pre existing conditions have the "ability" to get insurance, but if they are not "poor" enough to fall into medicaid, how are they going to afford it? Rates for healthy people in their 30s and 40s are already a couple hundred a month for a crap plan.

All this does is create a more expensive system and allows the insurance companies to charge more for everyones coverage to cover up all the leeches of america. I cannot wait for next year when my senior market finds out the cuts that were made to medicare advantage. Some of them have no idea they they were patched up for the election. I say in just over a year we will have complaining coming from all over the map. It is one big impending disaster. I won't even get into the small business 50 and over employee rule. There is a website tracking the companies that are cutting employees to stay below this number and it will continue to grow.
PICKET: Companies plan massive layoffs as Obamacare becomes reality - Washington Times
This isn't the one tracking them but just an example of how companies will cut employees to avoid having to close its doors and continue operations. Can't make blanket rules for the entire country that change the entire ecnomic structure of a company.

And the above post about puppets is exactly right. As long as there are more programs that provide free stuff, people will agree to just about anything. More regulation is fine as long as I get a bunch of free stuff in return. Nobody wants to work hard anymore and why should you when you are not rewarded for it? Meanwhile you neighbor gets everything for free while sitting at home and having kids. No personal resbonsibility is rewarded in this country now.

[jcindaville]

I work in the insurance industry and while I am pissed off that the idiot and his puppets won the election, I am going to sit and wait until all the complaining begins when this disaster gets fully implemented. Rates are already disgustingly high and DR offices are crowded. Now prices will continue to go up to account for people with existing conditions joining to system. Meanwhile, more people get "free" healthcare in the form of medicaid and the system becomes even more crowded. And of course there are the taxes that will continue to increase to pay for this disaster. It will create some business for me but there still will be a big problem. People with pre existing conditions have the "ability" to get insurance, but if they are not "poor" enough to fall into medicaid, how are they going to afford it? Rates for healthy people in their 30s and 40s are already a couple hundred a month for a crap plan.

All this does is create a more expensive system and allows the insurance companies to charge more for everyones coverage to cover up all the leeches of america. I cannot wait for next year when my senior market finds out the cuts that were made to medicare advantage. Some of them have no idea they they were patched up for the election. I say in just over a year we will have complaining coming from all over the map. It is one big impending disaster. I won't even get into the small business 50 and over employee rule. There is a website tracking the companies that are cutting employees to stay below this number and it will continue to grow.
PICKET: Companies plan massive layoffs as Obamacare becomes reality - Washington Times
This isn't the one tracking them but just an example of how companies will cut employees to avoid having to close its doors and continue operations. Can't make blanket rules for the entire country that change the entire ecnomic structure of a company.

And the above post about puppets is exactly right. As long as there are more programs that provide free stuff, people will agree to just about anything. More regulation is fine as long as I get a bunch of free stuff in return. Nobody wants to work hard anymore and why should you when you are not rewarded for it? Meanwhile you neighbor gets everything for free while sitting at home and having kids. No personal resbonsibility is rewarded in this country now.

I couldn't agree more

[jt4545]

as a business owner i will have to raise my prices because of "HIS" shit we be in a world of hurt people!!!!!! i look for someone to pop a cap on his a-- but not me !!!!! i will make it always have, just hard work