The costs of Obamacare continue to roll-in. Several weeks ago Civitas review reported that complying with the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would cost the UNC system approximately $46-$47 million.
The additional costs come from ACA requiring the university to provide insurance for about 8,500 non-permanent employees who work 30 or more hours a week. Insurance for full-time employees costs the university about $5,400 per employee.
So what will UNC do to address the additional costs?
Last week UNC chief operating officer Charlie Perusse called ACA an “unfunded mandate.” Perusse said the university is likely to cut the hours of 75 percent of employees now required to be covered to reduce UNC’s financial liabilities to about $11-$22 million. The university is seeking approval of a plan to offer employees that would have to be covered a cheaper plan.
So it looks like UNC is acting like any other rational entity when faced with financial challenges: it’s seeking to cut costs. Although I’m sure it wasn’t what ACA proponents had planned on. Wonder how UNC plan will square with new IRS penalties for organizations that layoff employees to get around ACA provisions
Affordable Care Act? If there is a program whose name is more misleading, I’ve yet to find it.
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