Obamacare: Companies announce layoffs now that healthcare reform is “the law of the land”
Now that Barack Obama has been reelected and the very dim prospect that Obamacare would be repealed is lost forever, companies which are facing huge tax increases are forced to make tough decisions if they want to remain profitable in Barack Obama’s economy.
It has only been two days since Barack Obama has been elected but the impact has already been felt, here is a list of companies who have been forced to lay off employees as a result of Obamacare. It must be remembered that this is as good as it gets, it is all downhill from here.
Welch Allyn
Welch Allyn, a company that manufactures medical diagnostic equipment in central New York, announced in September that they would be laying off 275 employees, or roughly 10% of their workforce over the next three years. One of the major reasons discussed for the layoffs was a proactive response to the Medical Device Tax mandated by the new healthcare law.
Dana Holding Corp.
As recently as a week ago, a global auto parts manufacturing company in Ohio known as Dana Holding Corp., warned their employees of potential layoffs, citing “$24 million over the next six years in additional U.S. health care expenses”. After laying off several white collar staffers, company insiders have hinted at more to come. The company will have to cover the additional $24 million cost somehow, which will likely equate to numerous cuts in their current workforce of 25,500 worldwide.
Stryker
One of the biggest medical device manufacturers in the world, Stryker will close their facility in Orchard Park, New York, eliminating 96 jobs in December. Worse, they plan on countering the medical device tax in Obamacare by slashing 5% of their global workforce – an estimated 1,170 positions.
Boston Scientific
In October of 2009, Boston Scientific CEO Ray Elliott, warned that proposed taxes in the health care reform bill could “lead to significant job losses” for his company. Nearly two years later, Elliott announced that the company would be cutting anywhere between 1,200 and 1,400 jobs, while simultaneously shifting investments and workers overseas – to China.
Medtronic
In March of 2010, medical device maker Medtronic warned that Obamacare taxes could result in a reduction of precisely 1,000 jobs. That plan became reality when the company cut 500 positions over the summer, with another 500 set for the end of 2013.
Others
A short list of other companies facing future layoffs at the hands of Obamacare:
- Smith & Nephew – 770 layoffs
- Abbott Labs – 700 layoffs
- Covidien – 595 layoffs
- Kinetic Concepts – 427 layoffs
- St. Jude Medical – 300 layoffs
- Hill Rom – 200 layoffs
But it gets even worse because there is now a trend emerging in certain industries in which companies are cutting down the hours of full time employees so that they will be considered part time employees under Obamacare so these companies can avoid providing healthcare insurance to its employees:
Beyond the complete elimination of a significant number of American jobs is another looming problem created by the health care law – a shift from full-time to part-time workers.
Sean Hackbarth of Free Enterprise explains:
A JP Morgan economist “points out that 8.3 million people are working in part-time jobs even though they’d prefer full-time work. Unfortunately, because of President Obama’s health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), workers in the hotel, restaurant, and retail industries could be pushed into part-time jobs working less than 30 hours per week.”
“Under the health care law, if a company has more than 50 “full time equivalent” workers, a combination of full and part-time employees, but doesn’t offer “affordable” coverage that meets the government’s minimum value standard, the company will have to pay a penalty. This penalty is determined by the number of full-time employees minus 30 full-time employees. So to reiterate a very important point: part-time workers are not part of the penalty formula. The health care law creates a perverse incentive to hire part-time versus full-time workers.”
America’s Watchtower was one of many conservative blogs which predicted this outcome–in fact many of us believe this was Barack Obama’s desired outcome–and now we are seeing it come to fruition.
Elections have consequences and we got the government we deserve…..
America's Watchtower 
I’m of mixed opinions on this. Part of me wonders how much of it is just wanting to blame Obama and take the blame off themselves. Even if Romney had won he wouldn’t have taken office until January and since a big reason for the layoffs is Obamacare would that really have been repealed?
I have my doubts on this one, Steve. But, generally, Obama’s policies will cause increased job losses.
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It is quite possible that these layoffs were coming anyway, but it is also possible that these people had crunched the numbers and knew if Obamacare wasn’t repealed they would have to take this action and were holding off to see the outcome of the election.
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Reblogged this on Freedom Is Just Another Word….
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Thank you!
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We’re with Harrison (previous comment) on this one. Hard to know what is true – in part because some of these people are so anti-Obama they can’t see straight. “Proactive” lay offs.!? At any given time, there are always some companies laying off people. That was true before Obmacare, and will be true after. Cause and effect? If people, in general, on both sides, could be trusted to present a more honest, balanced view of things, we’d have a better idea as to what to believe. We’re not going to claim we know where the overall economy will be in four years. Because we don’t. One thing does seem to us to be certain: Whether we’re talking about basic medical supplies or t-shirt, boots or wrist watches, low wages in China and elsewhere are going to continue to be a factor we can’t compete with… And there doesn’t appear to be anyone – of any political striping – on the entire continents of either Europe or North America who has a real answer to that.
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It is possible you are right about this, these layoffs were coming so they decided to blame Obama for them, but there is also the real likely chance that they knew there would have to be layoffs due to Obamacare and were holding off in the hopes Obamacare would be repealed.
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Obama is a Communist and that’s what Communist do. Have millions unemployed , raise taxes, make it so hard to live that everyone has to go to the government for food, money, jobs, everything you need to live. Obama is a Communist and people better wake up !
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There is no doubt in my mind that Obama wants more people dependent on the government and that is one thing he has been very successful at accomplishing.
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Reblogged this on A Lot Of Coffee and Sleepless Nights and commented:
Obamacare is going to destroy this country.
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Thanks for the reblog and yes it is!
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Well, I guess it could be a coincidence that they are laying off people or just not letting the timing go to waste, but I really think that Obamacare is going to hurt the employers in their pocketbooks, so they are having to do what they can to keep the company open. We were told they would do it, so where is the suprise? I also, now don’t want to go to the doctor and have any tests done, routine or otherwise, because it will “go on my record” as far as I am concerned and be used against me later on. I have gotten to the ripe old age of 58 without needing cholesterol drugs or diabetes drugs, etc. I just have a feeling that anything from now on that goes in that file will be used against us at a later date, when we get older. I guess I am going to have a fight on my hands with the doctor, because he wants yearly blood workup. I told him how I felt about it before, will see how he feels NOW that Obamacare is going to be in full force shortly. Anyone know a good natural way to lower BP? I know staying off the blogs would take it down, but that is not an option.
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Even if these layoffs weren’t really the result of Obamacare there is no doubt that companies will be forced to cut back on their labor force.
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It has always been used against you, by insurance companies — your medical history, that is. All insurers feed information into a central data bank to which they all have access, and have been doing that for decades, so if you had an insurance claim for, say, kidney problems back in 1995, they have access to it, and can deny you coverage on that basis if they so choose. The difference with the new law is those old medical historical nuggets can no longer be used as a basis to deny you coverage, i.e., people with pre-existing conditions, if they have to change health insurers, will be able to get coverage.
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Economics is at the bottom line. I saw the same thing in the seventies when it was necessary to pay for health care for employees, over ten only if they were full time. So the Companies made most people part time and brought the standard of living down and the cost of health care up. Plus they massaged the employment #s to keep the stats. in the favor of the GOV.
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Those who forget history…..
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Obamacare or not, something has to be done about the high cost of health care! We are in essence already paying for those who don’t have it. It is right that a one half hour helicopter ride from one hosptial to another should cost 19K? It is right that my son’s broken arm hosp.stay cost 12,500.00 and it was only set not operated on with an 18 hr. stay in the hosp.? Our ded. was 10,500 and guess what the ins. co. reduced our bill from the hosp to? Yes, 10,500.00. How convenient. Then we had to pay another 3K to the doctors who did the work in the hosp. So, I am all for something being done. We need to come up with some kind of plan to reduce the cost of healthcare.
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I hope that your son is okay. Obamacare was supposed to deal with healthcare costs but obviously it hasn’t.
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