Posted on 08/08/2013 1:17:34 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
With a national debate still going on as the new national health care plan (Obamacare) is taking effect, what do federal employees think of the new system?
This week, we asked their views on being included in the new health care exchanges. There is apparently little debate among the federal workforce. Federal employees do not want to be part of the new system. Instead, they prefer to keep their current health plan based on a survey with about 2500 readers responding. Employees who are already retired have a much stronger negative reaction to being moved to a new system. Those with more than 15 years until retirement are not as unanimous in their opposition to moving into the new health care exchanges.
Congress and Congressional staff do not have a choice but won’t have to foot the bill of being in the new system. In a ruling issued this week, lawmakers and their staffs will continue to receive a federal contribution toward the health insurance that they must purchase through the health care exchanges created by President Barack Obama’s healthcare legislation.
In effect, they will be leaving the federal employee health care program and going into the new system but with the federal government still picking up most of the cost just as is done under the federal employee program. The new health care legislation included a requirement that Congressional members and their staffs would have to join the new exchanges. The author of this successful amendment, Republican Senator Charles Grassley, argued that if Obamacare plans were good enough for the American public, they were good enough for Congress. Democrats, who were eager to pass the health care legislation, which most had not read, passed the legislation with the amendment included.
As noted in an article earlier this week, legislation has been introduced to also move federal employees into the health care exchanges and out of the current federal employee health insurance program.
We asked readers their views on leaving the current federal health insurance program and joining the new exchanges. The results were definitive with 92.3% of those responding to the survey preferring to continue in the current program.
Different Perspective From Those Retired And Newer Federal Employees
27.4% of those responding to the survey are already retired federal employees. 41.1% indicated they would be eligible to retire in the next five years. 13.2% will not retire for more than 15 years.
Of those who are already retired, 97.6% said they should be allowed to keep their existing insurance rather than being forced into Medicare. But, among those with more than 15 years until retirement, 90.7% said they should be allowed to keep their existing insurance and 9.3% said being required to enroll in Medicare would be preferable.
Also, among those with more than 15 years until retirement, a smaller percentage preferred being able to keep their enrollment in the current federal employee health insurance program. Among this group, 87.6% preferred keeping the existing federal employee system. 7.5% said they should become part of the new health care exchanges and 5% were not sure.
I had lunch today with a small company president. I asked him what he was going to do about healthcare. He said, (roughly) “well, I can’t calculate the impact of the insurance rates because nobody can tell me what they’ll be. I have to set my rates now. If I can’t lock in a program now I can’t offer insurance. So, I’ve added $1.50 per employee to every billable hour. We’ll use that to pay the penalty.” Another issue is, if his competition lists billable rates without insurance then he won’t be able to compete. But his rates and costs will be locked in for a year. He’d go broke. So, the lower risk path is to simply say no insurance.
“I’ve added $1.50 per employee to every billable hour”
Note, this is per employee. And people wonder why young people aren’t getting hired. Thanks Obama!
“Note, this is per employee. And people wonder why young people aren’t getting hired. Thanks Obama!”
I’d guess his average billing rate at $85/hr. So it now becomes $86.50/hr. Yes, I hadn’t thought about the impact of that $3,000/person penalty on the minimum wage worker.
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