Obamacare Case: Trader Joe's Cuts Insurance For Part Timers

[_bcspace]

This is a nine state grocery chain:

Because ObamaCare is nothing more than a wealth redistribution policy that forces the productive to pay for the non-productives' Cadillac health plans (which include birth control), costs are about to explode. As a result, employers are desperate to cut the burden of their health care costs, which is why our economy is hardly creating any full-time jobs, and the part-time employees at Trader Joe's just lost their health insurance benefits:

After extending health care coverage to many of its part-time employees for years, Trader Joe's has told workers who log fewer than 30 hours a week that they will need to find insurance on the Obamacare exchanges next year, according to a confidential memo from the grocer's chief executive.

In the memo to staff dated Aug. 30, Trader Joe's CEO Dan Bane said the company will cut part-timers a check for $500 in January and help guide them toward finding a new plan under the Affordable Care Act. The company will continue to offer health coverage to workers who carry 30 hours or more on average. . . .

A current Trader Joe's worker described the coverage she'll likely lose as "one of the best parts about the job." (The employee requested anonymity since she isn't authorized to speak to the media.) She said she pays only $35 per paycheck, or $70 per month, for a plan that generally covers 80 percent of her medical costs, carries a reasonable $500 deductible and includes prescription drug coverage.

"There are several folks I work with who are there for the insurance as much as anything, mostly folks with young families," she said. "I can say that when I opened and read the letter yesterday my reaction was pure panic, followed quickly by anger."

Meanwhile, the American media treats those in the GOP attempting to defund the ruination of ObamaCare as extremist freaks.

Trader Joe's Strips Part-Time Employees of Health Benefits

[_Markk]

This is a nine state grocery chain:

Because ObamaCare is nothing more than a wealth redistribution policy that forces the productive to pay for the non-productives' Cadillac health plans (which include birth control), costs are about to explode. As a result, employers are desperate to cut the burden of their health care costs, which is why our economy is hardly creating any full-time jobs, and the part-time employees at Trader Joe's just lost their health insurance benefits:

After extending health care coverage to many of its part-time employees for years, Trader Joe's has told workers who log fewer than 30 hours a week that they will need to find insurance on the Obamacare exchanges next year, according to a confidential memo from the grocer's chief executive.

In the memo to staff dated Aug. 30, Trader Joe's CEO Dan Bane said the company will cut part-timers a check for $500 in January and help guide them toward finding a new plan under the Affordable Care Act. The company will continue to offer health coverage to workers who carry 30 hours or more on average. . . .

A current Trader Joe's worker described the coverage she'll likely lose as "one of the best parts about the job." (The employee requested anonymity since she isn't authorized to speak to the media.) She said she pays only $35 per paycheck, or $70 per month, for a plan that generally covers 80 percent of her medical costs, carries a reasonable $500 deductible and includes prescription drug coverage.

"There are several folks I work with who are there for the insurance as much as anything, mostly folks with young families," she said. "I can say that when I opened and read the letter yesterday my reaction was pure panic, followed quickly by anger."

Meanwhile, the American media treats those in the GOP attempting to defund the ruination of ObamaCare as extremist freaks.

Trader Joe's Strips Part-Time Employees of Health Benefits

Did anything happen to the Two Buck Chuck prices?

[_krose]

Good to see the Breitbart hacks are carrying on the legacy of dishonesty and stupidity established by their late leader.

Meanwhile, the American media treats those in the GOP attempting to defund the ruination of ObamaCare as extremist freaks.

Of course they are extremist freaks. That goes without saying. But they are also manipulative liars, taking advantage of a horde of under-informed (and worse -- misinformed) tea baggers to raise money for themselves.

Lee and Cruz know full well that the law cannot be defunded by anything they can do. Their stated hope is to blackmail the president into signing a repeal by threatening to send the world economy into a tailspin. It won't work, and they know it. Yet they still do their ads and their rallies, raising hopes and stoking fears, in a drive to raise money for their campaigns.

The real sin of "the American media" is actually taking these clowns seriously.

[_cinepro]

Good to see the Breitbart hacks are carrying on the legacy of dishonesty and stupidity established by their late leader.

Assuming the story is true, and Trader Joe's is discontinuing its healthcare coverage for part-time workers, does this indicate that Obamacare is working as intended, or is this an unintended negative (or positive) side effect?

[_Analytics]

Good to see the Breitbart hacks are carrying on the legacy of dishonesty and stupidity established by their late leader.

Assuming the story is true, and Trader Joe's is discontinuing its healthcare coverage for part-time workers, does this indicate that Obamacare is working as intended, or is this an unintended negative (or positive) side effect?

Given that Republicans (i.e. true Americans) are against companies offering their employees health insurance, I'm sure they see this as a positive side effect.

[_krose]

Assuming the story is true, and Trader Joe's is discontinuing its healthcare coverage for part-time workers, does this indicate that Obamacare is working as intended, or is this an unintended negative (or positive) side effect?

The claim that they are moving low-hour employees to the ACA exchanges is likely true. That part (the middle paragraphs bracketed by the Breitbart creative embellishments) is a Huffington Post report.

I have no idea if the designers of the ACA foresaw that employers (the very few who actually offer insurance to part-time employees) would offload coverage to the exchanges. There appears to be no way for us to know that.

I do know that BC's source left out these paragraphs from the Joe memo:

"Depending on income you may earn outside of Trader Joe's" -- i.e., another job -- "we believe that with the $500 from Trader Joe's and the tax credits available under the ACA, many of you should be able to obtain health care coverage at very little if any net cost to you"

In a statement, a spokeswoman said, "We have made some changes to our healthcare coverage that we believe will be a benefit to all Crew Members working in our stores. We are committed to providing all our Crew Members with benefits that are among the best in our industry."

So this company appears to believe that their part-time employees will be better off financially as a result of this move. Who knows if that's how it will work out?

[_ajax18]

Given that Republicans (i.e. true Americans) are against companies offering their employees health insurance, I'm sure they see this as a positive side effect.

I see this attitude with most business owners whether Republican or Democrat. And I suspect expanding socialized health insurance will put more Americans under lousy health insurance. The government says they want to pay to get your vote than they don't pay once they have you. That's the only difference.