2012 July Archive

Archive for July, 2012

Study: 1 in 10 Employers Will Stop Offering Health Insurance in 2014

Posted on: July 26th, 2012 by Ryan Ball No Comments

A new study from Deloitte Health Services that surveyed 560 US businesses estimates that 9% of businesses currently offering health insurance to their employees plan to stop providing the benefit within three years of when the individual and employer mandates of the Affordable Care Act (aka, Obamacare) take effect in 2014. Eighty-one percent plan to keep providing coverage and 10% are not sure. While the study was active prior to the Supreme Court ruling affirming the individual mandate portion of the bill, the authors of the study do not anticipate large changes due to the ruling.

The study also found that small companies, 50-100 employees, were more likely to end health insurance for employees, with 13% of this group leaning toward ending health benefits within three years, compared to just 2% of companies with more than 1000 employees. Additional research on this topic presents widely differing conclusions, but the Congressional Budget Office estimated the number of employees that will lose insurance coverage from their employers at 3-5 million by 2022, which would seem to affirm Deloitte’s conclusions.

VGM Club Government Relations will continue to monitor the implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate provision and provide updates to Club members.

House Votes to Repeal Obamacare

Posted on: July 12th, 2012 by Ryan Ball No Comments

The House of Representatives has again voted to repeal President Obama’s health care reform law. The vote to repeal the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, fell largely along party lines, 244-185, with five Democrats joining all Republicans in voting to repeal the controversial law. As I’ve written previously, Obamacare was recently ruled constitutional by the United States Supreme Court, but the court did invalidate a key component of the law that mandated Medicaid expansions to 133% of the federal poverty level, which is what led to the renewed effort by House Republicans to repeal the law.

According to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the House has now voted to repeal all or part of Obamacare 33 times since taking the House majority in January 2011 on a mandate to get rid of the controversial legislation from the 2010 elections. Today’s vote marks the second time the House has voted to repeal the entire Affordable Care Act in this current congress, the first was early last year. Most of the repeal efforts have met their demise in the Democrat controlled Senate, who have not allowed direct votes on the repeal bills to protect the legislation prior to the 2012 elections. Congressional Republicans have succeeded in repealing several individual pieces of the law, mainly the 1099 employer tax provision requiring employers to declare any purchase of $650 or more on a separate tax form and defunding portions of the law’s subsidies in separate negotiations.

With the Senate unlikely to bring the most recent repeal bill to a vote, the law will likely continue to be implemented with all eyes looking toward the 2012 Presidential election as the last option to stop full implementation of the controversial law’s individual mandate, Medicaid expansions as well as the 2300 other pages. OPGA Government Relations will continue to monitor the actions of Congress on the Affordable Care Act and provide further information in the coming weeks and months.

VGM Club Supports Beverage, Restaurant Industry in Fight Against NYC’s Bloomberg

Posted on: July 10th, 2012 by Ryan Ball No Comments

VGM Club supports efforts being made by the National Restaurant Association and the New York State Restaurant Association to fight New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s proposal to ban the sale of sugary soft drinks with a portion size greater than 16 ounces. The NYC Health Board gave their preliminary approval of the policy last month. We are now in the public comment phase of the approval before another meeting can be held to formalize the controversial proposal. Club members in the New York area, please be sure to make your voice heard to the Board of Health prior to their ruling this fall.

From NRA.com:

So far, approximately 38,000 people have signed the New Yorkers for Beverage Choices online petition opposing the ban and the number is continuing to grow.

Scott DeFife, executive vice president of policy and government affairs for the NRA said the association is planning on testifying July 24 at a two-hour New York Board of Health hearing where public testimony on the issue will be heard. The board is set to vote Sept. 13 on the proposed ban.

“This is not about soda,” DeFife said. “It is about an anti-competitive, discriminatory rule that limits restaurant operations and practices. It involves a variety of beverages and could even impact beverages that are exempt from the ban because the liability may force some operators to not sell anything in a cup larger than 16 ounces. It makes no sense from either a health standpoint or a commerce standpoint.”

Some local politicians, too, are speaking out against the soda ban. Though the Bloomberg administration contends that the ban is an attempt to lower the city’s growing obesity rates, Brooklyn councilwoman Letitia James recently told the New York Times that “a holistic approach to a healthy life style, like greater access to high quality, low-cost food and restoration and development of outdoor parks and indoor facilities would have a greater effect on obesity.”