Heya Buck 
I think this can be added to your piece as well. What say ye?
Report: Employer Health Costs Jump Nearly Nine Percent in 2014.....
Healthcare premiums under Obamacare continue to climb, as healthcare "cost curves" maintain their upward trajectory -- both for the federal government and within the private market. The Los Angeles Times reports:
As we've addressed many times over, the administration's attempts to claim credit for the recent deceleration in health spending increases have been debunked by the government's own actuaries. As the piece above indicates, economists cite the economic downturn as the driving force behind that phenomenon -- which may now be coming to a close. Imagine how sharply spending would be rocketing up if we were in the midst of a robust economic recovery, in which case the combined effects of Obamacare's newly insured and economy-related usage increases would blast spending into the stratosphere. Indicators appear to suggest the US economy actually contracted in the first quarter of 2014.
AmeriMark, like most businesses, has been coping with rising health insurance premiums for years. This year,
the company's initial estimate from a broker was a 30 percent increase in the price of premiums if they stayed with the same insurance provider. Lyons says they shopped around, chose a new company and changed some of the policy's benefits — such as increasing the deductibles and copays that employees pay as their contribution to their own health coverage. Such changes in plans have become increasingly common nationally in recent years as annual increases in health care premiums have become normal. For many medium-sized companies, like AmeriMark, the new costs of the Affordable Care Act are an added burden on top of the health insurance premiums that have been rising for years.
The largest of the new Obamacare costs is the health insurance provider tax, or HIT. It's a tax that the federal government charges insurance companies, and the size of the fee depends on how many people the insurer is covering. Insurers then pass that cost on to employers. And employers, in turn, pass some or all of the cost on to their workers...Giesler says the company debated dropping health insurance for its employees — a step that, beginning in 2015, would result in an expensive penalty. In the end, the firm decided to keep providing insurance. But that decision may change in the future, he says, if costs continue to climb.
Let's count the broken promises in this excerpt alone: Facing a hefty double-digit premium increase (1) because of Obamacare's various mandates and taxes (2) AmeriMark was forced to drop its existing plan (3) in favor of a cheaper option that shifts more out-of-pocket costs onto workers (4). And if costs continue down the current path, the company is holding open the possibility of ceasing to offer health coverage altogether (5) -- which it has done since the 1960's.....snip~
Report: Employer Health Costs Jump Nearly Nine Percent in 2014 - Guy Benson
