Image: http:// flickr photo URL
The story fit nicely into the paper's anti-Obamacare stance, even though the article really made no sense. True, the law hasn't done anything yet (and we're skeptical that it will), but healthcare inflation is nothing new. It's been happening year after year after year. What was supposed to change that this year?
Today the paper has another scare story, this time about McDonald's dropping coverage for its employees. Apparently new regulations will make the company's healthcare setup cost prohibitive.
But here's the thing: the story is BS on multiple levels.
First of all, the health plans in question apply to 30K employees, and they're known as mini-meds, which are really the opposite of health insurance.
Here's WSJ explaining the deal:
While many restaurants don't offer health coverage, McDonald's provides mini-med plans for workers at 10,500 U.S. locations, most of them franchised. A single worker can pay $14 a week for a plan that caps annual benefits at $2,000, or about $32 a week to get coverage up to $10,000 a year.
Insurance is supposed to protect you against large, unexpected costs. These plans do no such things. Get hit by a car, and these plans will maybe pay your ambulance bill to get to the hospital. At best, they work for covering ordinary expenses.
As policy expert Josh Barro explains on Twitter, they're actually a way of ripping off the taxpayer, because after the $2,000 is spent (or $10,000) then it's up to the public to foot the rest of the hospital bill.
There's another problem with the WSJ story: the company has called it "completely false."
It seems McDonald's raised an issue with regulators -- how these plans would work under the Obamacare regime -- and is working on how best to handle it. The company is not planning on dropping the plans.
Here's the thing: Obamacare might end up being horrible. We're certainly extremely skeptical. But not everything bad that happens now -- before the majority of the law gets put into place, even -- can be pinned on it.
How come you and the neo-commie
Here is the dish - The presumption is that McDonalds workers are at the lower end of the income spectrum. To those workers, the marginal utility of health care is not worth the extra $15 required to pay for it. They could use that extra $15 to do what these people think would be best used for. If they are a teenager, health care is the last thing on their minds, so maybe they could use it for an extra night out at the movies.. Whatever the case, forcing someone to pay for health care not only displaces these individual preferences (dragging on the economy) but it also prevents an additional worker to be employed (since the corporation must pay for it) which if course is a drag on the economy as well.
if you dont think that companies think about their costs when hiring an additional employee, especially when determining future costs you either are: 1) a government employee in which costs and profits have no meaning or 2) someone else in which the cost of business has never been made. Either way, that is how the real world works...
Sad to see another rube see the world through the left-right prism, instead of thinking for himself and seeing things clearly.
Here is the dish - The presumption is that McDonalds workers are at the lower end of the income spectrum. To those workers, the marginal utility of health care is not worth the extra $15 required to pay for it. They could use that extra $15 to do what these people think would be best used for. If they are a teenager, health care is the last thing on their minds, so maybe they could use it for an extra night out at the movies.. Whatever the case, forcing someone to pay for health care not only displaces these individual preferences (dragging on the economy) but it also prevents an additional worker to be employed (since the corporation must pay for it) which if course is a drag on the economy as well.
if you dont think that companies think about their costs when hiring an additional employee, especially when determining future costs you either are: 1) a government employee in which costs and profits have no meaning or 2) someone else in which the cost of business has never been made. Either way, that is how the real world works...
If you don't have the 2 brain cells necessary or intellectual curiosity to figure out the cause of the havok that Obamacare is wrecking throughout the Insurance industry, trying to explain it to you really isn't worth the time.
How's that hopey changey stuff working out for you??
1) This would do nothing to lower costs for the average person if nothing it would increase costs by destroying what little flexibility and competition.
2) That you wouldn't be able to keep your doctor or plan because as in McDonalds case Obamacare puts restrictions and rules which destroy the plan they have.
3) That in the long run everyone will lose their plan because to be grandfathered you can't change your plan in any way, including ANY PREMIUM INCREASE!!!!! Not even to keep up with nominal inflation!!
There are more but I don't have time or energy to get into it with you!
Has the WSJ lied. As of writing this as far as I have heard they haven't denied the existence of the memo. The story says they COULD drop the coverage and yeah they backtracked on it. If you were a company that every tofu eating activist would like to un-supersize, you'd backtrack too!!!
As far as this article is concerned:
Joe:True, the law hasn't done anything yet (and we're skeptical that it will),
Well I guess Joe doesn't consider the coverage of 22-26 year olds on their parents policy for those years without the ability of the companies to make up the cost as any sort of change.
Then again confusing Joe Weisenthal with an actual journalist is like confusing a Hippo with a prima ballerina!
Or, are these facts, and you just don't like them, because they conflict with your utopian liberal world view - so you see this as some new "low' for the WSJ, because you are deeply biased and in total denial - so you are seeing the hard cold facts - as if they were some offensive political opinion??
Do I sense envy and more like jealousy Joe? Listen champ - Adamy of WSJ and Ambrose are respected real journalist unlike you and your BI colleagues.
Joe has no aspirations to become a respected journalist. He has already achieved his goal of being a partisan hack pinching out cut-n-pastes at a rate that would make a goose proud.
Just leave for HuffPo. It's where you belong.
Pathetic as usual.
and I was right. What a shocker Joe.
This is surreal. I feel like I've dropped acid.
Were costs supposed to accelerate? Have costs accelerated because of Obamacare. According to the financial statements of major corporations the answer is, yes.
I just got a letter from BC/BS that my rate will go up in October...but the letter does not say what my rate will be. Do I have to call them and waste time on hold? Do I have to freakin google them on line or just wait for my bank statement to see how much they took out of my account?
Good god, anyone who thinks the greed of the health insurance corporations does not have to be reigned in by regulation is an idiot.
My BC/BS corporation is SITTING ON 700 BILLION DOLLARS. They have raised my premiums each and every year for the past 5 years. And they refused to pay the one and only claim I had in 20 years.
Thats how they get rich, boys! It is nothing but a scam.
WSJ LOVES the rip off artists in the insurance field. They would like for the same rip off to continue since it is good for the bottom line even though it is bad for every single person in America.
So it's better to have McDonald's drop the policy entirely and have taxpayers foot the bill for the first $10,000 as well?
The Wall Street Journal is a business model; in no way does it try to invoke impactful thinking
If you work at or eat regularly at McDonald's (fast-food industry overall) you are contributing to nothing but financial costs to the American tax payer. Same goes for soda industry. There are of course too many deep pockets in government to get rid of these burdens on economy but in do time it will happen.
"If you work at or eat regularly at McDonald's (fast-food industry overall) you are contributing to nothing but financial costs to the American tax payer. Same goes for soda industry."
Glad I have good, smart people like you to tell me how to live my life.
While I have you -- could you help me with a few other things:
What religion should I follow?
What kind of sex should I have or not in my bedroom?
What education should I impose on my children?
What should I choose: paper or plastic?
What should I do if my six wives won't wear their burkas?
Helmet on my head with a motorcycle?
Seatbelts?
Smoking?
What books should I never read?
Should I watch Fox News?
What kind of sex should I have or not in my bedroom? as much as you possibly can as long as it's not with a minor and you promise not to over procreate
What education should I impose on my children? there's no limit to education
What should I choose: paper or plastic? compostable paper if you must, but should really just bring your own bag
What should I do if my six wives won't wear their burkas? you shouldn't care but maybe get into fashion design and create a compromising product
Helmet on my head with a motorcycle? helmet for sure but don't care either way. your life
Seatbelts? absolutely but i don't care either way. your life
Smoking? no but if you have to not around children or in public
What books should I never read? every book you can get your hand on
Should I watch Fox News? of course, you always need both sides of the story to make a decision for yourself
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-wsjs-demonization-of-obamacare-hits-pathetic-low-with-article-on-mcdonalds-dropping-coverage-2010-9#ixzz1122FV0kT
..."and you promise not to over procreate."
God help us.
If only I could believe it was that simple.
Alas, I know too many liberals who actually DO believe the government should control how many people are born. Next step: How many die.
After seeing the kind of inhumanity of this level in the last 100 years, we should never take such statements in jest.
If you want to extrapolate these FACTS to saying that even thinking that people should try to solve this problem with birth control and sustainability as inhumanity you are simply shallow. You have no depth in your thinking or viewpoint.
What I have a problem with is those who wish to govern believing they can determine birth-rates and selectively choosing this life over that life.
Sounds far fetched to you doesn't it? Not something the United States would ever do, would they? You'd bet they never would and that all they have is good intentions to limit resources, correct?
Unfortunately, you would be surprised to learn that "science" was used in a massive way to already commit this henious crime in the United States (we won't even go to any other massive ethnic cleansing that was "science" based):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization
In the end, over 65,000 individuals were sterilized in 33 states under state compulsory sterilization programs in the United States.
The first state to introduce a compulsory sterilization bill was Michigan, in 1897 but the proposed law failed to garner enough votes by legislators to be adopted. Eight years later Pennsylvania's state legislators passed a sterilization bill that was vetoed by the governor. Indiana became the first state to enact sterilization legislation in 1907,[24] followed closely by Washington and California in 1909. Sterilization rates across the country were relatively low (California being the sole exception) until the 1927 Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell which legitimized the forced sterilization of patients at a Virginia home for the mentally retarded. The number of sterilizations performed per year increased until another Supreme Court case, Skinner v. Oklahoma, 1942, complicated the legal situation by ruling against sterilization of criminals if the equal protection clause of the constitution was violated. That is, if sterilization was to be performed, then it could not exempt white-collar criminals.
When some well-meaning, science-driven liberal starts to talk about forced sterilizations after x children -- don't believe for a second they are capable of stopping the machinations of the theory they are spouting off on.
Just name some names of people who support this idea.
Anyone?
I have the list in front of me. It took me no time at all to come up with.
I don't think it is ethical to post their names in a public blog, but if you post yours and your telephone number, I will call you and give you the names of these liberal democrats.
19 new taxes on businesses just so the potus could claim "its revenue neutral" .
Business has read the fine print..done the future projections and is acting accordingly/responsibly !
ObummerCare IS A MAJOR CAUSE OF EMPLOYMENT CUTBACKS !
Of course, to hear Obama tell it -- he's not raising taxes:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/iowa_man_axing_bush_cuts_job_killer_6HEngTvvMOkveqI1D0quNL
Wait, don't cut off my mi....
Obama lied so bad on this its not funny.
FFFUUBBOO!!!
From the World Bank (an institution dominated by the United States), a quick summary of the proportion of national GDP spent on health care and spending per capita.
UNITED STATES: 15.9 pct of GDP, $6,657 per capita
FRANCE: 11.1 pct of GDP, $3,807 per capita
GERMANY: 10.7 pct of GDP, $3,628 per capita
SWEDEN: 8.9 pct of GDP, $3,598 per capita
CANADA: 9.7 pct of GDP, $3,430 per capita
UNITED KINGDOM: 8.2 pct of GDP, $3,064 per capita
JAPAN: 8.2 pct of GDP, $2,936 per capita
SOURCE URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5504Z320090601
Put THAT in your pipe (but please don't smoke it - it's bad for your health.)
REG CROWDER
Financial & Investment Writer
Brittany, France and London, England
http://www.RegCrowder.com
Its to bad Crowder you didn't do your homework first before inserting your foot in your mouth...
"The United States is a wonderful test case for unregulated, uncoordinated, every-man-for-himself health care"...
This is hardly the case when the federal government has imposed the costs of medicare, medicaid on the medical market place plus apparently you didn't get around to finding out about HMOs and Ted Kennedy and Richard Nixon's part in that nonsense...
Can you say "S-CHIP Euro-Weasel Crowder?
There are so many federal programs that belie your silly whine...
Yes indeed.
I will now be forced to pay for an health insurance policy while before I was able to get health care in emergency rooms paid for by working people.
This is evil.
Yeah, right. it's all bush's fault. Nothing that happens now is obama's fault, right?
does ya enjoy carryin h2o for barry?
-http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/mar/10/medicalscience.highereducation
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ...We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. ...In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons...who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind."
- Edward Bernays
Don't tell me about it. It makes me mad to.
Since this guy came the stock market went up 30% and we went from losing 650,000 a month to gaining 70,000.
A true disaster indeed.
Once it was evident that he was likely to win the US presidency in Sept. 08, the market crashed and teetered on the brink of chaos. Only GWB's Tarp program stopped that from happening.
whew.... glad Obama can't run and hide from his past.
You are indeed a talented spin doctor. Or you have been brainwashed
In 1981 U.S. private debt was 123% of GDP; by the third quarter of 2008, it was 290%.
So, without Obama, the housing bubble would never had imploded? Private debt would have still increased more?
By the way, the september 15th 2008 Gallup poll showed McCain leading Obama 47% to 46%.
I guess Obama is also responsible for the recession that STARTED in December 2007?
For Bear Sterns collapse in March 2008?
If you believe he is an innocent lamb who was brought to slaughter -- you are welcome to your opinions.
I believe a US Senator ought to amount to something in this world. A vote, or in his case a vote of "present", actually does mean something.
If you think he had no responsibilities as a US Senator to steer this country into the ditch -- you are only fooling yourself.
The democrats control the purse strings. If you don't believe me, check out the Constitution.
Every fact you questioned above was a fact that happened DURING the Democratic control of Congress.
Mr. Obama was a leading democrat during that time.
To think he is innocent is beyond the pale even for someone who is ignorant of any Constitutional background.
I see you have not found your intellect yet.
Keep looking!
So Obama was a "leading Democrat" while America went on an orgy of public and private debt and spending starting around 1980 ?
"In 1981 U.S. private debt was 123% of GDP; by the third quarter of 2008, it was 290%."