Repeal ObamaCare

By Steven R. Rathje

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Exactly how may the Supreme Court's decision regarding Obamacare affect your job?

My company does business in 48 of the 50 states. As CEO I speak directly with my counterparts on a regular basis. We discuss taxes, regulations, organized labor, and all the things that play a huge role in our ability, or inability, to remain competitive in the manufacturing industry.

So when Judge Roberts along with four others on the Supreme Court found the Affordable Care Act to be constitutional, I believe that some employers, in an effort to avoid paying both the high cost of Obamacare or, the penalties for not offering it at all, will be forced to do exactly that which our economy cannot afford.

Companies cannot afford to absorb the cost of implementing this new law or the penalties for not providing it. They will have no choice but to pass the additional costs on to you by way of price increases on the products you buy. Rather than you, the customer, accepting the increased product cost, you will simply seek out foreign, lesser expensive brands as a remedy.

Employers, in an effort to remain competitive and stay in business, will be forced to lay off workers and replace them with foreign sourcing and/or subcontract workers. Sub-contract workers are those hired to do specific jobs, just not under the direct employment of the company they're working for.

Under Obamacare, I look for an increase in outsourcing for everything from manufacturing, accounting, janitorial, construction, etc. Why? Because contract workers are just that, contract workers, and therefore responsible for paying their own taxes and providing for their own benefits.

Companies, in all likelihood including mine, will hire no one to do anything that can't be provided by subcontract workers. We'll pay no matching income tax, no benefits, no Obamacare, no pension plans, and no penalties because we will have no direct employees.

Therefore, I expect unemployment and underemployment to increase and the overall economy to become more stagnant than it already is.

We all thought, including me, that Obamacare would be deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Now that it hasn't, there are very few choices remaining for employers hoping to remain in business. Other than what I've described, the remaining option is to repeal Obamacare and allow the invisible hand of the free market to determine the fair and honest cost of our healthcare system. Deeming a law constitutional doesn't mean it's a good law.

Steven R. Rathje is of Founder/CEO International Procurement Services, Inc. and The Genesis Group Inc., Cedar Rapids. Comments: srathje@ipsinc-usa.com