Posted on 08/22/2013 9:22:42 AM PDT by Captain Jack Aubrey
Citing ObamaCare as a reason, the the University of Virginia has announced that spouses of University employees who have access to health insurance through their own jobs will no longer be eligible for health insurance coverage.
In its announcement, President Obama's healthcare plan is specifically mentioned by UVa as a reason for the rising costs that forced the university to drop working spouses. ObamaCare is expected to add $7 million to the university's health care costs.
UVa was also a public supporter of ObamaCare:
Working spouse provision: Starting Jan. 1, spouses who have access to coverage through their own employer will no longer be eligible for coverage under U.Va.’s plan. Spouses who do not have coverage elsewhere can remain on the employee’s plan, and coverage of children is not affected. ...
Provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act are projected to add $7.3 million to the cost of the University health plan in 2014 alone. Federal health care reform will create new costs related to the “individual mandate” that requires all Americans to have health care coverage (or pay a penalty).
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
How the heck does the insurance company, or the university for that matter, know where the spouse works, or IF the spouse works?
You're joking, right?
Well...actually, no. How do they? More big brother tattling?
Here’s how I expect it would work (putting all the onus on the employee):
All spousal coverage is cancelled until you provide your tax return showing no W-2s for your spouse the previous year.
If there are W-2s, you must provide an affadavit from that employer stating no medical coverage is provided.
I’m glad these know it all libs are finally getting their way. :)
Ah, ain’t that just grand. There’s other stuff I could add but don’t want to set off the Nora Sam Adam sirens.
The issue here isn’t that it is being done (see the Microsoft situation you cited) it’s that it’s being done as a direct result/consequence of Obamacare.
So just another thing about the bill that needed to be passes in order for the public to find out what was in it ...
Because the Obama economy sucks, employers have all the leverage. There just aren’t a lot of jobs for employees to swap to.
So it’s easy to see where the costs of Obamacare will push employers to cut other benefits without worrying much about losing people.
I wonder if any RATs are experiencing buyers’ remorse.
Or maybe it’s just being used as a convenient excuse.
A lot of companies did this after they extended benefits to same sex partners. What one hand gave, the other took away.
They can’t have buyers remorse, that would be “racist.”
They are covering spouses not covered elsewhere (they don’t have to) only, which seems to be discriminatory.
Good point. The spouse was covered under the UVA plan as a dependent; now the spouse will need coverage as the primary insured which is way more expensive.
I think the GOP need only wait for Obamacare to implode.
1. Companies are not required to cover spouses whether or not they work.
2. The spouse should be able to choose which policy they want.
3. Having 2 primary insureds makes for higher premiums.
4. having 2 primary insureds makes for higher family deductibles and out of pocket limits.
A $hit sandwich is a $hit sandwich.
Jim: Best line of the year despite stiff competition.
Thanks. It was an often used phrase from my navy days (cleaned up a bit for family audience).
I think you may be wrong. I remember reading that McCain got but 19 percent of the vote in Charlottesville. It probably is the most liberal area in Virginia, though Northern Virginia must be close behind.
BTW, the newspaper there is the "Daily Progress," which always reminds me of "Daily Worker"!
Anybody living in Virginia who even dares to think about voting for Terry McAuliffe- the man who helped Obamacare become a reality- deserves whatever misery is coming down the pike if he wins.
I get that. I worked in HR Benefits for 7 years.
The thing is that all companies wrestle with holding down the costs of insurance benefits for their employees while offering a competitive scheme to hire and hold on to talent. Obamacare does serious damage to this in every way you can imagine. I am worried about what is going to happen to my own benefit plan, especially since I take a very expensive drug for psoriatic arthritis and my husband is diabetic.
Aside from this, I honestly don’t think it’s an employers job to worry about my spouse if he has benefits available at his workplace. I just don’t see why they should shoulder that expense and why I should expect them to. And secondary policies are really not worth that much, either. They pay a tiny percentage compared to primary policies.
Precisely!
In a free society it is no ones and no organization's business how many health care policies you have or qualify for!!
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