Columbus Business First - Senate Should Join Push to Halt Mandate

Op-Ed

By Representative Pat Tiberi

Job creators breathed a collective sigh of relief when the Obama administration last month delayed enforcement of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's employer mandate.

Studies echo what employers across Ohio have been telling me since Obamacare was signed into law, that its employer mandate will be a significant impediment to economic growth. The mandate requires employers of 50 or more full-time workers to provide health insurance. Full-time workers are defined as those working 30 or more hours a week.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found the mandate will cost businesses $140 billion in tax penalties between 2014 and 2023 and that it and other regulatory burdens from Obamacare will cost the economy 800,000 jobs.

Businesses and workers already were feeling the effects of the law before the delay was announced. Many employers cut jobs or reduced workers' hours so they wouldn't have to comply with the mandate. Investor's Business Daily found at least 16,500 workers have had their hours cut because of the new law.

The impact resonates into the future. According to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce survey, among small businesses affected by the employer mandate, nearly a quarter of them say they will reduce hiring to stay under 50 employees, and 71 percent say the health-care law is making it harder to hire.

While transition relief for employers is long-awaited, the House recently voted on a pair of bills to delay Obamacare's employer mandate and its individual mandate requiring all Americans to carry health insurance.

We shouldn't stop at delaying the mandates; it's time to fully repeal the health care law to provide. I hear from employers who offer insurance to employees that they will have to change their plans to comply, which means their workers will lose the coverage they have and like. Some expect participation in their health plans to decrease, in part because the penalty for declining coverage likely will be lower than the premium cost. In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, Andrew Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, explained that for his lowest-paid employees who qualify for benefits under Obamacare, their insurance costs likely will be four to 10 times more than the penalty on the uninsured. Even for the company's general managers making an average of $50,000 a year, the numbers don't encourage them to sign up for coverage.

The success of Obamacare depends on young, healthy workers purchasing coverage to help foot the bill for higher-risk individuals. But Puzder's analysis shows there's little incentive for younger workers to sign up. It will cost more to buy insurance than pay the penalty, some may be covered under a spouse or their parents, workers can purchase insurance later if they get seriously ill, and they can still be treated in the emergency room for virtually no cost to themselves. Meanwhile, this will cause costs for those who do purchase insurance to skyrocket. In Ohio, the state Department of Insurance reports individuals could pay nearly $200 more a month because of premium increases caused by the law.

Even some of the largest supporters of the bill when it was being written are having second thoughts. Besides the bipartisan to delay implementation of Obamacare, leaders of three major unions, including the Teamsters, are expressing opposition.

According to a new Rasmussen survey, 61 percent of people think the health-care system will get worse in the next two years. This pessimism is not a prescription for success. Lost work hours, job cuts and increasing health-care costs are making it harder on families and businesses.

While the Senate should take up the House bills to delay the employer and individual mandates, we need to focus on a full repeal and work to replace the law with commonsense measures that will lower the cost of health-care and increase access.

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