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Another Company To Drop Health Coverage Thanks To Obamacare | Missouri Political News Service

Another Company To Drop Health Coverage Thanks To Obamacare

October 4th, 2010 by mopns · No Comments

It hasn’t even been a week since President Obama assured a group of Iowans in a backyard discussion that under Democrats’ unpopular health care bill, “[I]f you’ve got health care through your employer, that’s not going to change, except to make it a little bit safer and more secure.” But today, there’s yet another story that Obama’s health care law won’t live up to his promise that “If you like your current plan, you will be able to keep it.”

The Wall Street Journal reports today, “3M Co. confirmed it would eventually stop offering its health-insurance plan to retirees, citing the federal health overhaul as a factor. . . . The St. Paul, Minn., manufacturing conglomerate notified employees on Friday that it would change retiree benefits both for those who are too young to qualify for Medicare and for those who qualify for the Medicare program. Both groups will get an unspecified health reimbursement instead of having access to a company-sponsored health plan.”

Today’s news follows a report in The New York Times on Friday that the Principal Financial Group will stop selling health insurance, which could affect “about 840,000 people who receive their insurance through an employer.” The NYT noted, “Principal’s decision closely tracks moves by other insurers that have indicated in recent weeks that they plan to drop out of certain segments of the market, like the business of selling child-only policies. State regulators say some insurance companies are already threatening to leave particular markets because of the new law.”

And last Thursday, the WSJ reported, “McDonald’s Corp. has warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul.”

Speaking to The Journal, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said, “[F]or all the employees who were promised they’d be able to keep their current benefits after the health-care law passed, I’m worried that the recent changes we’ve heard about…are just the beginning.”

Indeed, throughout the health care debate, Republicans warned of the consequences of Democrats’ plans to massively expand government in health care. Yet Democrats continued to insist that “[i]f you have health insurance and you like it, and you have a doctor that you like, then you can keep it. Period,” in the words of President Obama. And “[f]olks who are satisfied with their current health insurance coverage could keep it. People would not be required to change health plans,” in the words of Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), one of the key authors of the health care bill.

Americans didn’t want this health care bill in the first place and every week a new story emerges showing that they were right in their skepticism of Democrats’ absurd promises. Just last week yet another poll found a majority of Americans still opposed to Democrats’ health care law. A Politico/George Washington University poll found 54% have an unfavorable view of that legislation. As it becomes clearer and clearer that this flawed health care overhaul cannot live up to Democrats’ promises, it becomes ever more obvious that the bill should be repealed and replaced.

Related:

Rasmussen Reports: Support for Repeal of Health Care Law Down to 50%

Cong. Carnahan: “Protesting ObamaCare is An Attack On Our Representative System of Govt.”

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Tags: Healthcare · Rep. Russ Carnahan

0 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Mark // Oct 4, 2010 at 2:49 pm

    This is very far from “dropping coverage” for a whole company. The change effects only retirees who haven’t reached the age to qualify for Medicare. On that basis, it is still very sad.

    However, many companies having been doing similar things on a much larger scale for years.

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