, Debbie and Larry Underkoffler, owners of North Georgia Staffing, are considering paying government-imposed penalties rather than offering Obamacare to temporary employees. The couple offers excellent health care to their full-time staff, but with hundreds of temporary employees, the cost of offering health insurance could sink their business.
[U]nder ObamaCare, the Georgia company now faces a tough choice — cover all of its temporary workers as well, or pay a hefty fine.
Aside from its full-time staff, the company also manages about 400 temporary workers, and is hoping to add another 200 in the next year. Those employees can buy into a separate health insurance program North Georgia Staffing signed up with. Under new ObamaCare rules, many of those “temps” will count toward the Underkoffler’s full-time staff. Larry Underkoffler calculates their full-time employee count will instantly surge from 18 to around 200. They will go from boutique operation to “major employer” overnight.
And that means, under the health care law, they’d have to provide insurance coverage to all, or pay a $2,000-per-worker fine. In the Underkofflers’ case, the fine might be the more affordable option.
“We would have to provide the same program for all the employees — including the temps — to everyone employed by us. And we just couldn’t do that,” Larry Underkoffler told Fox News.
Debbie Underkoffler says they may have to pay the penalties – $400,000 for the first year. However, that is far less than the $2 million Obamacare would cost them.
Read “Georgia business weighs paying Obamacare fine, instead of coverage” at Foxnews.com.
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