Is Obamacare good for credit unions and bad for their employees?

by. Henry Meier

Well, we’re entering the third day of the health care exchanges set up to allow Americans who don’t have health insurance to purchase it cost effectively.  So far the world has not ended, Democracy as we know it has not been overrun by tyrants, and I don’t feel that Big Brother is watching me anymore today than last week.

One of the most unfortunate consequences of the Congressional side show euphemistically described as a government shut down has been that this country has yet to seriously grapple with the profound impact for better and for worse that Obamacare will have on the American workplace.  Leaving aside the moral question of the Country’s obligation to provide health insurance to the almost 50 million Americans who do not have it (after all, I’m a lawyer, not a priest), the reality is that the health care changes are going to impact every employer in America.  This is particularly true of credit unions, since most of them have 50 or fewer employees but already provide health care.

So let’s say you’re the typical credit union with fewer than 50 employees who work at least 30 hours a week.  You already provide health care and theoretically Obamacare doesn’t have to impact what you do in the slightest.  But, you also have an eye for the numbers and like many employers, the cost of health care is biting more and more into your bottom line.  The result has been that over the last several years, your employees have been asked to pay for a larger share of the health care premium.  The 800 pound gorilla in the room for credit unions and their Boards of Directors, is this:  at what point do you consider having your employees shop for their own insurance through health care exchanges, rather than the credit union taking on the responsibility?

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