NPR: Obamacare Causes 700-Person Company to Consider Dropping Insurance

National Public Radio (NPR) reported Wednesday that mail order company AmeriMark Direct, which employs 700 people, has seen its health care premiums jump 8% and may consider dropping coverage for its employees due to Obamacare.

NPR says a key driver of the company’s premium hike involves Obamacare’s so-called HIT tax (health insurance provider tax) that works as “a kind of trickle-down sales tax.” The HIT tax on insurance companies depends on the number of people the insurer covers and is then passed along to employers in the form of higher premium prices. The HIT tax fees are then siphoned and redistributed by the federal government to cover low-income people on the Medicaid welfare program.

To control Obamacare-induced costs, AmeriMark Direct says it changed its insurance provider and offered plans that shifted higher out-of-pocket costs onto their workers in the form of higher deductibles and higher copays. If Obamacare’s cost hikes continue, the company told NPR it may drop health insurance for employees and just pay the Obamacare penalty to save money.