McDonald’s, the extremely successful fast food company that is recognized around the world, may be putting an end to it’s employee health insurance plans. If so, this will leave around 30,000 hourly workers with no form of health insurance. McDonald’s wants federal regulators to waive a requirement of the new health care law for them. If not, well, it looks like a lot of workers are about to lose their health insurance.
The new health care requirement has something to do with the percentage of premiums that must be spent on health insurance benefits. In 2011, employers will be required by law to spend at least 80% to 85% of its premium revenue on medical care. McDonald’s has sent out a memo to federal officials stating that it would be “economically prohibitive” for their carrier to continue offering the mini-med health insurance plan, unless, of course, the federal government agreed to allow McDonald’s to avoid having to meet the requirement. Right now, federal officials are saying that they cannot guarantee that they will be able to grant a waiver for large corporations, like McDonald’s, to be exempt from the new requirement.
Many large corporations require their employee’s to sign up for health insurance benefits in November. If the employee doesn’t sign up at that time, they must wait until the next November to sign up for benefits. It is unlikely that this issue will be resolved in a little over a month’s time. There may be many McDonald’s workers holding their breath right now, waiting to see if they will have health insurance for the upcoming holiday season.
Many American’s have no form of health insurance. Those that do, are getting their health insurance from their employer. McDonald’s employs thousands of workers. It troubles me that McDonald’s is willing to take away the health insurance of so many people, simply because McDonald’s wants special treatment from the federal government. Personally, I find it hard to believe that a company that makes so much money is completely unable to find a way to juggle it’s budget in order to comply with a federal law that all the other companies will be expected to follow. If McDonald’s doesn’t get it’s way, this will mean that 30,000 people will be without health insurance until 2014, when the health care exchanges will exist.
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