Obamacare – the gift that keeps on taking. Not only hasn’t it covered the 30 million uninsured, saved families $2,500 per year, added one cent to the national debt, or improved healthcare, but it is now destroying more small businesses with outrageous fines for not complying with its ridiculous mandates. Read it and weep if you are a small business owner or employee of a small business. Obamacare started out as a shitshow and has graduated to a clusterfuck. But at least we now know what’s in it. Thanks Pelosi.
Washington, DC – An obscure IRS rule took effect on July 1 under which small businesses that get caught helping their workers buy insurance or pay medical bills can be fined 18 times more than larger employers that don’t provide coverage at all, warned the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) today.
“It’s the biggest penalty that no one is talking about,” said NFIB Policy Director Kevin Kuhlman. “The penalty for compensating employees for healthcare-related expenses is enough to destroy most small businesses.”
Under the rule, which appears nowhere in the Affordable Care Act, employers who do not offer a group health plan, but give their workers additional pay to compensate for the purchase of health insurance or direct medical expenses can be fined $100 per day, per employee. Over the course of a year that’s $36,500 per employee up to $500,000 in total. The penalty on businesses for failing to comply with the employer mandate is only $2,000 per year.
“It’s hard to believe Congress or the President intended to punish employers much more severely for actually helping their workers,” said Kuhlman. “Nevertheless, that’s the consequence and most small businesses don’t know it.”
In fact, according to NFIB research 14 percent of small businesses that don’t offer group insurance reimburse their workers instead. They think they’re doing a good thing but they’re walking into a minefield.
“Reimbursing employees for the cost of insurance or medical services is a way for small businesses to help their workers without the administrative headache of setting up a costly group plan,” said Kuhlman. “Most small employers don’t have HR departments or benefits specialists, so this is a simpler, easier way to help their employees.”
Congress could remedy the situation by repealing the IRS rule. There is legislation in both houses awaiting action (S. 1697/H.R. 2911).
“If there’s an opportunity for a bipartisan improvement toward affordable healthcare, this has to be it,” said Kuhlman. “There’s no real justification for penalizing small businesses that do what the law’s strongest supporters claim to want, which is to help employees obtain coverage or pay medical bills. This is a rigid and thoughtless bureaucratic rule that undermines the purpose of the law, and it ought to be repealed immediately.”
The hunt for money by bankrupt, socialist governments has been ongoing and will get worse.
FATCA, CAF (Civil Asset Forfeiture), now IRS. These governments and their agencies will make any rules and regulations that support what amounts to theft – their is no morality in our government.
FUBAR. I think I just quit giving a rats ass
@Kokoda: Make that fascist, not socialist. If we had anything approaching a socialist government we would have a single-payer healthcare system that would cost about 1/3 of our wonderful “private” system.
Yes I’m a small businessman, and yes thanks to this site I knew about the penalty.
Back in the 80’s when we started the business insurance was reasonable, so we paid 80% of our employees health care costs on a group plan. This was BCBS major medical, general health was paid out of pocket, colds, flu, ear aches, etc.
As time went by more and more people listened to the politician tell them all trips to the doctor should be covered by insurance as a basic human right. So insurance was in bed with the politician and costs began to rise.
This will continue to get worse until the day America is just like Europe, full of nationalized companies, a single payer system and cradle to crave dependency on the gov, with 80% taxation and no hope of reaping the benefits from working harder or taking more personal risks than the other guy. Why not, it’s worked so very well for europe….
If I can make it four more years I’m done, if I can’t, fuck it, I’m done anyway but I sure am getting sick of it all.
The IRS has to go. However they are not the only agency in government trying to stomp out small business. Look at what the FDA and Dept. of Agriculture are doing to small farms and the organic food industry. The Federal Register grows exponentially every month. The federal government does not even know how many agencies they have. The rampant fraud is beyond comprehension. Don’t get me started on how the Pentagon can “lose” 2.5 TRILLION, as they announced on September 10, 2001.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/03/the-government-has-no-idea-how-many-agencies-it-has/
Just curious ….
Say Mr. Joe Workamahassov makes $40k a year. But, $5k of that is the employer giving him a raise to help him with insurance costs. If that $5k is NOT reported separate from his “gross wages” …. then HOW would the Infinite Retardation Service even know about it?
Greetings,
I hate to say it but until things change, the only way to go forward is to not have anything of value that the Feds or anyone else can steal. For example, I drive an old Chevy S10 from 1989. From the outside, it looks old and worn out but everything under the hood all the way to the rear end is new. On paper, it has no value and no one is interested in it. On the inside, it is a beast and doesn’t have any of the modern tracking/hacking devices found in all modern cars.
I refuse to own property because it can be stolen by the State at any time and for any reason. Instead, I take whatever money comes my way and I use it to have fun. I buy good food and I travel as much as possible. I do this because the moment you own something that you can not hide you make yourself a target to an entity with an infinite need for your stuff.
“Can’t believe the President and Congress intended for this to happen”. Just ask John Roberts. He is real good at making up intended meanings.
Stucky- do you want to know how the IRS would know. Very simply- either the owner or the employee would in an audit actually tell you. Or a fired or disgruntle worker would write in and complain.
Hey Nickle….I used to live in Newbury Park….Partied a lot in Ventura.