In Which I Detail How Obamacare Will Work for MeFirst, I very much appreciate this sort of "in the trenches" real-world report of how ObamaCare is hurting Americans. I hope more of our elected officials take heed of what their policies are doing to their constituents.
Currently, I am a college professor at 3 campuses in the Denver area. I prefer not having administrative duties and would rather focus on teaching and research. Until we move (this is complicated), finding a FT job isn't likely, but I'm basically happy. I make what a full time faculty member makes, but that means I don't get healthcare because my work is split at multiple institutions, 2 of them community colleges. So I am responsible for my own healthcare, but I am OK with that, since I don't really use the traditional healthcare system for anything but very serious emergencies. I am not a big fan of medicine as it is practiced in this country, so I do most of my own lab testing and "alternative" treatment.
But never fear. My healthcare "problem" will be solved in 2014 when Obamacare kicks in. That's because the college has been told by the Feds that they must provide community college instructors who work more than 3/4 time (that's me) with health insurance. That would be me. I'm going to get health insurance! Yay, right?
How will the college respond to this? Likely by hiring more very part time instructors and taking work away from current instructors that teach nearly a full-time load. This is not speculation: I expect this to gradually be implemented over the coming 2 years, as detailed in an email I just received from the administration. This will be so they don't have to pay the insurance mandated by the federal government. I won't simply be able to spread out my work over 4-5 community colleges in response, because the new regulations apply to all community colleges in Colorado as a whole. In other words, the state won't view, say, Front Range CC and CC of Denver as two separate institutions when it comes to health insurance. It will view them as one. That means instead of teaching 4-5 classes per semester, I'll be limited to 1. The number of instructors will probably triple, depending on the department.
Yep, I'm sure on a salary 1/4 to 1/5 what I make now, I'll be ever so capable of paying for mandated insurance! Thanks, Obama!
A very practical example of the types of unanticipated effects of such legislation. For those of you who wonder why I'm no longer all that excited about the government thinking it knows best for me and every aspect of my life, this is why.
Second, many on the Left actively want Americans to be frustrated with private insurance industry under ObamaCare. That way they can say, "See, we tried it the 'free market' way and it failed; that's why we need a government 'single-payer' system". (Of course, the failure would be due to government policies that destroyed the free market, not the free market itself.)
Finally, these perverse effects of ObamaCare will affect many people all across the economic spectrum by making it harder for employers to offer full-time jobs to willing employees. For more details, see the following from James Sherk of The Heritage Foundation: "Obamacare Will Price Less Skilled Workers Out of Full-Time Jobs".
Here's a critical image:
