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Last year, Darden Restaurants raised the ire of progressives when it toyed with the idea of eliminating most of its full-time employment for its hundreds of locations in order to avoid the high costs of ObamaCare compliance. Darden later rejected the idea, but most probably didn’t know that the chain offered low-cost health insurance to its part-time employees — or at least they did. Darden announced today that they will have to cancel that insurance thanks to the coverage mandates of ObamaCare, a decision which will send 1,000 employees into the Healthcare.gov exchanges that aren’t functioning now:Starting in 2015, Obamacare will require large companies to offer insurance to employees working an average of at least 30 hours a week. Darden said that has always been the threshold for its insurance plan, but it had allowed about 1,000 workers who fell under to stay covered. Now that state health-insurance exchanges are available under Obamacare, Darden said those workers have other options. Darden said many might end up paying less under the exchanges if they qualify for government subsidies.Darden said in an email some workers may be able to rack up more than 30 hours next year “when the needs of the business and that individual’s availability align.”Darden will no longer offer part-timers limited-benefit insurance because Obamacare forbids it. Darden said it will offer other programs to part-timers such as a bundle of discounts on prescriptions, and cash payments for services such as doctor’s visits.They might pay less for premiums, but they’re going to pay more overall. That’s because the so-called bronze plans that cost the least still are more expensive for most applicants even with the scalable subsidies, and also because deductibles will likely be much higher than Darden employees had under their employer plan. That means that those consumers will have to spend thousands of more dollars than they did in previous years before their insurance benefits kick in at all. For those working part-time, that will take a particularly vicious bite out of their disposable income.
Remember when Darden said they were revamping their menu's at Olive Garden and Red Lobster to please Michelle Obama? Well I read Friday night in a business report that their sales at both resturants are plummeting and they are being pushed to start selling property. Shades of JC Penny.
