ObozoCare Smashes the Working Poor

Are the consequences intended or not?  The JS reports that a head-on collision is coming as a result of ObozoCare, and it will smash the working poor.

Josie Armour makes about $460 a week caring for a man born with cerebral palsy. Her hourly wage is officially $11.50 but in reality is probably less than that. Most days, she puts in extra hours, and she works seven days a week.

Armour, 59, has cared for the man for more than a decade and loves her job.

...Armour works for Independence First, which provides services for people with disabilities, and she is an example of one of the unintended consequences of the Affordable Care Act.

Independence First and similar organizations are paid a set hourly rate from Medicaid for personal care workers who help people with disabilities with dressing, bathing and other tasks needed for them to remain in their homes.

The state determines what it will pay for those services. And unlike a restaurant or retail chain, Independence First can't just raise its prices.

Yet it will be required to provide health insurance to employees who work 30 hours a week or pay a potential penalty under the so-called play-or-pay mandate of the Affordable Care Act.

(The JS reporter implies that other businesses CAN simply 'raise prices.'  That's debatable, to say the least.)

So what are the consequences?

Because Independence First employs a large number of people with disabilities, its insurance costs are sky-high — an estimated $11,000 a year for individual coverage.

Under the law, a worker's share of the premium is limited to 9.5% of his or her wage. That works out to a bit less than $2,200 a year for someone who makes $11 an hour and works 40 hours a week.

Providing health benefits could cost Independence First more than $5,000 a year for each full-time worker.
The other option is to pay a penalty of $3,000 for each worker who gets subsidized coverage through the marketplaces known as exchanges.

That works out to $1.4 million for the 470 personal care workers who work more than 30 hours a week — or almost all of Independence First's net income of $1.6 million, on revenue of $35.9 million, last year.

(Look again at the italics.  That 9.5% premium contribution is coming soon to a theater near you:  your own job.  Got cash??)

The article also mentions that nursing homes are heading into a crisis, as will daycare centers.

The Lightworker's fairy-dust turns out to be hot nuclear waste.  Too bad.