Iowa GOP hopeful calls for ObamaCare delay

Timberline Manufacturing doesn't want to be in the health insurance business.

However, the implementation of the Affordable Care Act is taking time away from the Marion company's focus on engineering and assembling wire harnesses, control panels and custom electronics, management staff there told U.S. Senate hopeful David Young Tuesday.

It's not questions from employees, according to Jennifer Lawrence, who handles human resources for the 20-year-old firm that has 109 employees plus temporary workers.

“It's so confusing,” she told Young, and given the coverage available through the employee-owned company, “I think they would look at the (insurance) exchanges and say, ‘Thanks for nothing.'”

There's also the question of whether the company or the employees will pick up the increase in health insurance of about $15 per person covered by Timberline's group policy, Sales Manager Mark Kraus said.

That has Lawrence looking at options including health savings accounts and self-insurance in addition to the wellness programs Timberline now offers.

Young has heard similar stories as he has visited employers in Iowa's 99 counties.

“I'm hearing that folks with fewer than 50 employees don't want to expand” in order to avoid ObamaCare requirements for larger employers, Young told Timberline officials. Some are moving employees from full-time to part-time to avoid those requirements – and costs, he said, or dropping spousal and family coverage.

“We need to look at how ObamaCare is affecting the bottom line,” said Young, a Van Meter resident who was GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley's chief of staff for six years. “It's hurting health care outcomes and affecting the relationship between doctors and patients.”

Young would like to delay the individual mandate on the ACA to give people time to better understand the choices they face.

“People don't know what's coming,” he said, and predicts there will be many surprises before the ACA is fully implemented.

“I don't think the ACA debate is over,” Young said. “It will get louder as more people are affected.”

Delaying implementation may not be necessary, he said, because judging by the problems with the rollout of ObamaCare, “it may fall under its own weight.”

That's not necessarily good, Young said, because “some pieces make sense,” such as requiring insurers to offer coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions, for example.

For more on Young, visit

www.youngforiowa.com.