Denny's Rest. Owner to Add Obamacare Surcharge

[TPD]

The snowball is rolling...

John Metz, Denny's Franchisee And Hurricane Grill & Wings Owner, Imposes Surcharge For Obamacare

"While some business owners threaten to cut workers' hours to avoid paying for their health care, a West Palm Beach, Fla., restaurant owner is going even further. John Metz said he will add a 5 percent surcharge to customers' bills to offset what he said are the increased costs of Obamacare, along with reducing his employees' hours."

[RPMDAD]

TPD, man are you fast, was just getting ready to post this.

" A Florida restaurateur who operates roughly 40 Denny’s locations and five Hurricane Grill & Wings franchises in Florida, Virginia and Georgia intends to add a 5 percent surcharge to customers’ bills to offset costs from ObamaCare beginning in January 2014 when the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented.

“People are trying to find ways to avoid the penalties and to avoid having to pay for ObamaCare,” John Metz told FoxNews.com. “Everyone’s looking for a way to not have to provide insurance for their employees. It’s essentially a huge tax on all us business people.”

To further offset the costs, Metz, who oversees roughly 1,200 employees as president and CEO of RREMC Restaurants, LLC, said he also will slash most of the staff's time to fewer than 30 hours per week. That change will be announced to employees next month, he said.

“I want to explain it to everybody, to let them know what’s coming down the pike,” he said. “We like to keep our employees informed.”

The changes will force some front-of-the-house employees to look for second jobs, Metz said, but he simply cannot afford the penalties associated with ObamaCare.

“It’s a great concept,” he said. “We want to have everyone insured. The problem is, who is going to pay for it and how are we going to accomplish this?”

Florida Restaurateur to Impose Surcharge for ObamaCare - Yahoo! Finance

[TPD]

Originally Posted by RPMDAD

TPD, man are you fast, was just getting ready to post this.

lol - Had just heard it on Fox News

[b23hqb]

Multiply that by how many thousands of businesses? I can just see Jay Carney and his boss man saying something like "We never anticipated something like this happening. It must be stopped."

Only gonna get worse Jan 1, 2013.

[NextJen]

I can't wait until half of the population that cried about how great it is that now everyone will have insurance (Obamacare the answer to all our ills) start complaining about and boycotting companies that add a surcharge to cover their costs.

[acommondisaster]

My husband's company just had a conference call with all their regional offices, explaining the new healthcare plan cost increases to the employees at all the offices. There was a lot of shock and grumbling at the increases, but the real outrage came when many of them said "I just won't get insurance" and found out they HAD to get insurance.

When they demanded to know why the change and why they had to take insurance, my husband said the head of HR explained in four words. "You voted for it".

[kara teoke]

Denny's Pancakes With a Side of Obamacare Tax? Not Yet

[TPD]

Originally Posted by acommondisaster

My husband's company just had a conference call with all their regional offices, explaining the new healthcare plan cost increases to the employees at all the offices. There was a lot of shock and grumbling at the increases, but the real outrage came when many of them said "I just won't get insurance" and found out they HAD to get insurance.

When they demanded to know why the change and why they had to take insurance, my husband said the head of HR explained in four words. "You voted for it".

I know some of the rules are still being written on this, but I've heard from another employer that his insurance broker told him that even if an employee is covered under a spouses plan, this employer will have to pay a fine each year since his employee is not covered under his plan. So the employer loses either way, and people wonder why they have to pay more for pizza and pancakes.

I dread seeing the new insurance rates for my employees in the next couple of months. Though I'm not currently required, I do provide health insurance for them and it has risen 20% or more for the last 3 years. I don't see that changing next year...

[vraiblonde]

Wait...I thought Obamacare was going to be free?

[acommondisaster]

Originally Posted by TPD

I know some of the rules are still being written on this, but I've heard from another employer that his insurance broker told him that even if an employee is covered under a spouses plan, this employer will have to pay a fine each year since his employee is not covered under his plan. So the employer loses either way, and people wonder why they have to pay more for pizza and pancakes.

I dread seeing the new insurance rates for my employees in the next couple of months. Though I'm not currently required, I do provide health insurance for them and it has risen 20% or more for the last 3 years. I don't see that changing next year...

I must pay a $40 a month surcharge for having my husband take my insurance rather than his own. That's on top of what I pay to have him on my plan (it's just us, no kids).