Obamacare and the number 49 [Obamacare punishes businesses for hiring more than 49 people]

Orange County Breeze ^ | Robin Itzler

Entrepreneurs, those hardworking men and women who take an innovative idea and make it reality with their own money and labor, might now find 49 is their favorite number.
President Obama’s $1 trillion entitlement Affordable Care Act, known popularly as Obamacare, is directed at businesses that have at least 50 full-time employees. If your small company is close to that number of employees and you’ve given thought to hiring more staff, you might find it financially smarter to remain below 50, hire part-timers instead or start another company.

That’s what the French do. Since conservatives say America is becoming more like France, let’s look at what is happening in that country. France has 2.4 times as many companies with 49 employees as with 50. Why? Because the government mandates that any company with more than 50 employees must create three worker councils, introduce profit sharing and submit restructuring plans to the council if the company decides they need to lay-off staff for economic reasons. Rather than deal with these headaches, when a French company reaches 49 employees they start a new company. They also move their manufacturing to nearby countries, again with a new corporate name. (For more, read “Why France Has So Many 49-Employee Companies” – Bloomberg BusinessWeek, May 3, 2012.)
Some believe the Obama Administration, which views government as the answer to most everything, wants companies to replace full-time workers with part-timers because:
Part-time employees are counted equally with full-time workers, thus erroneously lowering the unemployment rate.
Most part-timers earn less income and have no health coverage, making them more reliant on government programs.
Pass the Aspirin
Rather than destroy the world’s greatest health care system with a 2,700 page bill that no one read, we could have made improvements:
Institute medical liability tort reform so doctors could stop diagnosing based on potential malpractice lawsuits.
Allow people to buy insurance across state lines, which would competitively drive down costs.
Keep children covered to age 21, rather than 26. They’re always our children so why stop at age 26? Why not keep them covered until age 36? 46? 56?
If Obamacare is not repealed, it could be less expensive for business owners to pay the penalties for non-compliance rather than pay additional fees and taxes to insure all their employees. Not to mention all the new regulations you’ll have to deal with. As of this writing, government officials have already drafted 13,000 pages of new regulations for the ObamaTax law!
Marketing in uncertain times
With President Obama giving the middle-class the largest tax increase in U.S. history, consumers are afraid to spend money beyond necessities, worried they will need the money to pay Obamacare taxes.
Yes, it is a tax as the Supreme Court ruled. As proof, the Internal Revenue Service is hiring 6,500 people to implement the tax. On average, American families will keep 4% less of their income come January and the number climbs even higher in 2014.
To keep your name top of mind and encourage sales, you’ll have to maintain or increase your marketing budget. In uncertain times you should focus your marketing campaigns around how your business provides excellent value with outstanding customer service, something consumers want for discretionary purchases.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts told the American people it is up to us to decide on Election Day whether or not we want Obamacare.
The Marketing Maven firmly believes that government is not the solution, but that it’s the free market that offers the best solutions. Let’s hope the uncertainty ends in November so that only the San Francisco 49ers football team will care about the number 49.