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Food service industry advocates have long opposed the Affordable Health Care Act (aka Obamacare) since its passage in 2010.
Among those the National Restaurant Association (NRA) is the largest and most vocal opponent of the law, in particular the provision of the bill that requires employers with 50 or more full time equivalent employees to provide health insurance or pay a penalty.
Despite this unified opposition from industry leaders like the NRA, the food service community is a pretty diverse place, and as The Back Burner discovered in its own survey last week, opinions about the health care law are just as varied.
As you can see above, only a slight majority of restaurateurs believe the law is harmful to their business and the industry as a whole – despite the solid opposition from organizations like the NRA – although it is fair to say that more people are solidly against the plan than are for it.
Those who oppose the law cite the “employer mandate” – the requirement to provide health care to employees for “large” (50 or more employees) businesses – as the primary reason for their opposition. Many are also concerned that the mandate will slow hiring and therefore hurt the economic recovery.
Those for the Affordable Health Care Act were more circumspect about the implications of its provisions. Overall they pointed out benefits like better employee retention, reduced sick employees on the job, and lower health care costs over time.
Most surprising, however, was how many respondents to Tundra’s survey were unsure exactly how the new law would affect the food service industry – positively or negatively.
And that drives right to the heart of how the health care law is playing out across the country as a whole – most people don’t know exactly how the law is going to affect them, even though most are either firmly in favor or opposed to the law.
And in Tundra’s survey it was also clear that most respondents simply wanted to learn more about the law, regardless of how they felt about its passage. Check out the graphic below:
At this point it looks like the Affordable Health Care Act will stand as passed and that means full implementation is coming in 2014 – that is, unless there are some major shifts in the Senate towards the Republican Party in November.
Either way it is time for restaurant owners to start evaluating how the law will affect their business and then take action to start moving towards compliance.
The National Restaurant Association, despite their stolid opposition to the bill itself, has done a really good job of collecting all the resources and information restaurateurs need to comply with the provisions of the bill.
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Those who believe the healthcare act is a negative should attend an insurance seminar. Many are being offered nationwide to explain the Facts vs the Myths of the Healthcare Act.
Here in my area, Asheville, NC, the local news did a report on just such a seminar and upon interviewing the attendees, the majority who came in with a negative stance on the Act, left on a positive. The Media, Political Parties and Political Action groups have scared the public and private sectors with rumors and myths regarding what the Act does. Be your own best friend and become educated and informed. Fear and ignorance are our worst enemies.
– JP
Hi JP,
Education is the most important thing here. As most respondents to the survey indicated, learning as much as possible about the new law was their priority, regardless of how they felt about the law itself.
“As you can see above, only a slight majority of restaurateurs believe the law is harmful to their business and the industry as a whole”-
Are you reading the same chart? Based on your own chart and numbers represented therein, it looks like 2 to 1 against Obamacare, not what most would consider a “slight” majority–it’s SIGNIFICANT opposition. The majority of restauranteurs are quaking in their boots, knowing that margins are razor-thin, and now the Obama mandate imposes an additional TAX, further increasing the burden on the small-business owners who MAKE jobs.
Even the NY Times admitted recently that Obamacare was inhibiting hiring among many corporations. Plus, health care costs have risen at least 10% since Obamacare was passed, as insurance companies pass on the costs to their customers. Trying to distort the facts with your facile pro-Obamacare agenda is insulting.
One thing I’d agree with you–learn as much as possible about the very complicated law.
Hi Bob,
If you break down the numbers, 30 respondents said the health care law would Very Positively, Somewhat Positively, or Neither Good Nor Bad affect the food service industry versus 33 respondents who said it would either Negatively or Very Negatively affect the law. That sounds like a slight majority of people who view the law negatively to me.
Also, this article has no agenda; it is merely trying to understand how the food service industry is reacting to the Affordable Care Act. Just because the tone isn’t automatically vitriolic in its opposition to the law doesn’t give it a “pro-Obamacare agenda.”
Hi Greg,
Why would you lump the Neither Good Nor Bad respondents with the Very Positively and Somewhat Positively groups? That certainly skews your conclusion, which doesn’t resonate with any restauranteur I know.
All I’m saying is that the people who definitely have a negative view of the law are not the vast majority of the food service community, in spite of what many might think. When I ran the survey I fully expected to see 80% of respondents in the Very Negatively category. Instead, while there is a strong core group of people who oppose the law, overall feelings are actually quite mixed. That surprised the hell out of me.
We have been offering health insurance to our full and part time staff for 10 years now. Unfortunately; the price has still been too high for anyone to take advantage of he “benefit”. Health care in the food industry will continue to be a major problem.
Perhaps, Americans will learn how to cook healthy food at home again. It’s time to remove the agribusiness from our food system.