You know what? If you’re an employer who doesn’t like the idea of being forced to provide health insurance for your employees, then maybe you should’ve pushed a little harder for the single-payer system that we all wanted in the first place.
It really disgusts me reading these headlines of employers loudly proclaiming only days after the President’s re-election that they’re laying off employees or cutting hours because they don’t want to pay for the Affordable Care Act. Note that the penalty for employers doesn’t even kick in until 2014 – some 60 weeks away – but firing people now, and especially saying that you’re targeting employees who voted for Obama, just makes you a gigantic asshole who doesn’t deserve to have quality employees working for you in the first place.
These are the kinds of employers who need to be weeded out of our society anyways – the ones who give the absolute bare minimum to their employees and vindictively cut corners wherever they can. They’re the reason why trickle-down economics are a bunch of crap, and why we need workplace laws in place explicitly to protect people from their own bosses. They’re the ones who exemplify Chris Rock’s quote about minimum wage, “It’s like saying – I’d pay you less if I could, but it’s against the law.”
Healthcare should’ve been separated from our employers like it has already been for most other civilized countries around the world, but in the meantime here in the USA we’ve still placed the burden on our employers to provide that coverage. It’s a benefit no different than one’s salary, and it’s time we moved past the notion that it can be an optional part of our lives. Everyone gets sick, everyone should be able to go to the doctor to get better, and if you don’t believe in that for your employees, then you’re an asshole who needs to find another line of work that doesn’t make you primarily responsible for providing another human’s well-being.
Providing health insurance, at least for now, is just another part of being an employer here in the United States, and I think it’s going to paint a very ugly portrait for any business owners who decide that they’d rather pay a fine or reduce the size of their businesses than actually provide the much needed coverage because they’re still pouting about their guy losing the election…
Update: Here’s a list of more pathetic companies that would rather slash employees than take a hit to their profit margins in the name of providing healthcare.
Ironically it’s put together by a group attempting to point out the failings of all of us who voted for President Obama, but I’m not sure I feel guilt as much as I feel ashamed that we have businesses like these here in America who would rather cut their own workers than provide them with care.