little, if anything, that will reduce costs for those individuals and organizations that already have insurance coverage.” His concern focuses on the ACA’s increased, not decreased, premiums; on mandated fees and penalties; on extra required paperwork, and on unintended consequences for larger companies, small to mid-sized companies, and individuals.
“No one understands it, where to start, what questions to ask. The more questions you ask, the more questions you have.” Tessa Ebbesen, CPA with Varner Systma Herndon
A business owner told Billingsley that if health benefit costs go up, the company will have to reconsider giving raises, bring fewer people into the work force, and cut spending on new equipment. “He feels everyone will suffer,” Billingsley said, “…and that ‘we as owners will continue to put in 60 hours a week and by the end of the year, make less.’”
Lack of Awareness and Understanding Billingsley said that local employers are getting their information from national sources and panicking. And Varner suggested that “businesses are ignoring this issue a bit.” One business owner, when asked about the changes, said he did not have the time and resources to “read all that stuff and understand it. What will be force-fed will be force-fed, and I will deal with it when it comes to me.” In the Personally Speaking interview for this publication, Nancy Steiger, the head of
Kathy Varner and Tessa Ebbesen,VSH Photo by Steve Hortegas
PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center whose vast network stares the ACA squarely in the face as a conundrum for ongoing operations, addressed the matter with a shrug and said, “Who knows?” A feeling seems to prevail that nobody knows answers to a gazillion questions about it. “Not a single person I have talked with is able to tell me with certainty what will happen to their health care, and that is concerning,” Mischaikov said. Varner said this is the lack of understanding is the one thing understandable. “The Act is
extremely complicated,” she said. “The laws are still being written. People are confused and overwhelmed.” One of her company’s CPAs, Tessa Ebbesen, agreed. “No one understands it, where to start, what questions to ask. The more questions you ask, the more questions you have.”
The Facts (or at least some of them) Informed or not, workers have begun to experience impacts, and they most assuredly will continue in 2013, 2014, and beyond. Over 25 Years of Providing Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Services to Bellingham, Washington
s t. f r a n c i s of a p a r t of
bellingham the
a v a m e r e f a m i l y of c o m p a n i e s
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