This Wall Street Journal piece lays out the real-world impact of ObamaCare on small businesses, who now face soaring costs for health insurance or the $2,000 per employee penalty. It should come as no shock that some are cutting back on full-time employees and others face a dismal future.
Mr. Levi currently spends about $140,000 a year on insurance premiums to cover 25 managerial staff at his business, Consolidated Management, which runs cafeterias at schools, offices and jails.
Under the new law, he will have to offer insurance to all of his 102 full-time employees starting in January. Assuming all of them take the coverage, Mr. Levi says the cost of premiums could exceed $500,000.
“I’ve never made a profit in any year of the company that has surpassed that amount,” says Mr. Levi, 62 years old. “I don’t make enough money.”
He says it makes more sense to drop insurance entirely and pay a penalty of about $144,000.
Does anyone really think Mr. Levi will be expanding his business anytime soon? In other words, is he likely to hire? It is no wonder the unemployment rate remains staggeringly high.
