Now This? Restaurants Asking Us to Pay Their Employees' Healthcare
So it's come to this. A Florida restaurant chain has added a healthcare surcharge to its checks.
According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), "Eight Gator’s Dockside restaurants have instituted the surcharge, the Associated Press reported. Customers’ bills show a fee labeled “ACA,” which stands for the Affordable Care Act that will require all businesses with 50 or more full-time workers to provide health coverage or pay a fine."
How would you feel about this if it came to a restaurant near you? I admit, I thought the ACA was a wonderful Obama move but now that I've recently been assessed an almost $800 co-pay for a test that used to cost $30, I'm rethinking this a little. I was one of those who lost their old insurance because it offered too little coverage and found reasonably priced (even slightly lower) insurance through a major insurer. But after waiting over eight minutes on the phone to talk to a real person, and hanging up, I'm wondering if I made the right move.
Of course I want everyone in America to have access to doctors. But we're all starting to find out how much it's going to cost the rest of us.
Apparently the Florida chain isn't the first to institute a charge to help it pay for healthcare. RWJF notes that a restaurant in Los Angeles is also doing this, initiating a 3% charge on all their customers' receipts.
Gator's Dockside thinks it has a just cause. "At Gator’s Dockside, a sign on the front door and a plastic-coated letter handed to diners along with the menu explain the fee," RWJF says. "The AP quoted from the letter: "The costs associated with ACA compliance could ultimately close our doors."
According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), "Eight Gator’s Dockside restaurants have instituted the surcharge, the Associated Press reported. Customers’ bills show a fee labeled “ACA,” which stands for the Affordable Care Act that will require all businesses with 50 or more full-time workers to provide health coverage or pay a fine."
How would you feel about this if it came to a restaurant near you? I admit, I thought the ACA was a wonderful Obama move but now that I've recently been assessed an almost $800 co-pay for a test that used to cost $30, I'm rethinking this a little. I was one of those who lost their old insurance because it offered too little coverage and found reasonably priced (even slightly lower) insurance through a major insurer. But after waiting over eight minutes on the phone to talk to a real person, and hanging up, I'm wondering if I made the right move.
Of course I want everyone in America to have access to doctors. But we're all starting to find out how much it's going to cost the rest of us.
Apparently the Florida chain isn't the first to institute a charge to help it pay for healthcare. RWJF notes that a restaurant in Los Angeles is also doing this, initiating a 3% charge on all their customers' receipts.
Gator's Dockside thinks it has a just cause. "At Gator’s Dockside, a sign on the front door and a plastic-coated letter handed to diners along with the menu explain the fee," RWJF says. "The AP quoted from the letter: "The costs associated with ACA compliance could ultimately close our doors."
The chain said, instead of raising prices for customers, it thought adding the surcharge made more sense. Do I hear anyone out there agreeing?
Comments
Post a Comment