“Many franchisees of big chains hover around the threshold at which they will be required to start insuring workers or pay the penalty. With high turnover and a large percentage of part-time and seasonal workers, restaurant and retail operators must juggle several variables in figuring out whether they will cross the threshold.”

“Today is the day when the Obamacare mandate forcing employer-provided health insurance plans to provide ‘free’ abortion pills, contraception, and sterilizations kicks in. Most religious charities, hospitals, and universities have been granted a one-year reprieve from the mandate. ‘In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,’ as Cardinal Timothy Dolan put it in January when the administration decided there would be no exception for religious institutions that employ or minister to people other than coreligionists.”

“An Indiana-based medical equipment manufacturer says it’s scrapping plans to open five new plants in the coming years because of a looming tax tied to President Obama’s health care overhaul law.
Cook Medical claims the tax on medical devices, set to take effect next year, will cost the company roughly $20 million a year, cutting into money that would otherwise go toward expanding into new facilities over the next five years.”

“On the ever-lengthening fiasco list, the ‘exchange’ problem is one of the worst. Congress told states to build these bureaucracies that will dispense health insurance subsidies and regulate coverage, but by and large the states aren’t doing so. The National Academy for State Health Policy reports that only 13 states are making ‘active’ progress on their exchange. That means they’ve checked off five or six of the seven basic boxes that the Health and Human Services Department says they must, like pass legislation or issue an executive order establishing an exchange.”

“In the Inland Empire, an economically depressed region in Southern California, President Obama’s health care law is expected to extend insurance coverage to more than 300,000 people by 2014. But coverage will not necessarily translate into care: Local health experts doubt there will be enough doctors to meet the area’s needs. There are not enough now.”

“The Affordable Care Act could cost McDonald’s and its franchisees more than $400 million a year in additional health-care expenses, Chief Financial Officer Peter Bensen said on Monday. McDonald’s estimates that each restaurant will incur between $10,000 and $30,000 in added annual costs.”

“It turns out that, even when you compare the years that are common to each CBO report, a clear trend emerges. Today, the CBO believes that Obamacare will spend more money, raise more tax revenue, and reduce the deficit less than the agency thought in 2010. And things could get worse.”

“It’s all part of health reform (ObamaCare). For the past few months the federal government has been quietly and secretly enrolling millions of elderly and disabled people into ACOs without their knowledge or consent. By quietly I mean that the government isn’t telling you about it and it has no plans to tell you about it. By secretly, I mean the whole procedure is being conducted under the radar screen. I know of no place you can write or call or go online to find out what ACO you’ve been assigned to.”

“Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney signed a pledge Wednesday to repeal, defund and otherwise thwart President Obama’s healthcare law. Two conservative groups — Independent Women’s Voice and American Action Majority — are spearheading the ‘Repeal Pledge’ effort.”

“The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has just published, in two reports, its updated score of the 2010 health care law. The new score is bad news from almost any vantage point. CBO’s fiscal evaluation of the law is worse than before, even though the number of people receiving health insurance coverage is now projected to be fewer.”