The Business Side of Obamacare

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Unit 2

The Obama Administration extended the date at which the aspect of Obamacare that requires businesses with 50 or more full-time employees to provide full benefits, respectively to their full-time employees, to 2015. Businesses have been preparing for the day the Employer Mandate of Obamacare is enforced in a few different ways, one of them being the act of cutting hours. In a recent study, a list of states, organizations/businesses within the states, and their response to the year of preparation in respects to hour cuts, was given. 313 employers listed information on their hour cuts. Every business listed was cutting their hours so that when the Employer Mandate came, they wouldn't be overwhelmed with increased business expenses in the health care category.

I was quite surprised with how many businesses were cutting hours to avoid paying for health care they didn't want or, in some cases, couldn't necessarily afford with the amount of full-time workers. I'll be honest, I don't think that the Employer Mandate of Obamacare is going to get us anywhere with providing more health care in the work place; the current mindset of the business won't allow it. Not only is the mindset, which I will discuss later, a factor in the growing desire of businesses to pay for the least amount of health care they have to by law, but businesses are feeling pressure on their shoulders to provide healthcare or pay a tax fee; the mindset is the most important of the two.

The mindset of the average businessman consists of these: passion to have success, stubbornness to do things as freely as possible, and longing to feel like a difference is being made in their specialized area of business. Business is a competitive profession; if you don't work hard, you won't make it. So, that brings us to the why; why is the business mindset negatively influencing the Employer Mandate of Obamacare? The answer is simple; businessmen don't enjoy seeing anything get in their way of constantly trying to gain a sliver of success in their industry. Frankly, I think they're terrified, intimidated the Employer Mandate; most companies feel pressure from it.

Right along with the business mindset, there is a sense of forcefulness felt by businessmen from the government in respects to this aspect of Obamacare. It's like anything in life that makes you feel pressure, you get scared. When fear comes into play, you lose sight of the why and choose to deny that which frightens you; this is how the businessmen feel. So how can we express the why to businessmen?

I think businessmen tend to have the type of personality where they feel a need to answer the question, "What's in it for me?" Before the rant begins on what good the Employer Mandate could potentially do for spreading healthcare and wellness to hard working employees, we must consider the how; how are businessmen going to feel the need to pay for their employees health care rather than paying the mandatory tax fee.

There are three basic ideologies that would lull the average businessmen into the cradle of Obamacare: benefits and healthcare help to improve employee morale, employee work efficiency, and employee  
success. With each of these boosters to employees come more benefits for the business. When employees work harder, more revenue comes in, thus more profit. When employees feel better about their work situation, customer service and loyalty skyrockets. When employees find success in their workplace, they incorporate business visions with more vigor and pride.