Tell Me Again Why "We" Needed / Wanted ObamaCare

ObamaCare was sold to us because it was stated over and over again that somewhere between 10 million and 30 million Americans were without health insurance. The number was always in question, but most agreed that it was made up of three groups: a) the young and healthy males and non-pregnant females who did not want health insurance; b) the undocumented ("illegal"?) aliens; and, c) those in between jobs.

It appears that slowly and predictably, ObamaCare is unraveling one of the best health care systems in the world. The US health care systems had its problem but certainly whatever problems there were, they paled in comparison to what's coming down the track.

This site has regularly provided those updates and the train wreck (a democrat's description of O'BamaCare, not mine) is tracked here as well as at stand-alone posts tagged with ObamaCare or TrainWreck.

Now, today, one of the biggest wheels yet to fall off this train: UPS has just announced that it will drop 15,000 spouses from its health care plan. The reason: ObamaCare.

From the linked article:

United Parcel Service Inc. plans to remove thousands of spouses from its medical plan because they are eligible for coverage elsewhere. The Atlanta-based logistics company points to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, as a big reason for the decision, reports Kaiser Health News.

The decision comes as many analysts are downplaying the Affordable Care Act's effect on companies such as UPS, noting that the move reflects a long-term trend of shrinking corporate medical benefits, Kaiser Health News reports. But UPS repeatedly cites Obamacare to explain the decision, adding fuel to the debate over whether it erodes traditional employer coverage, Kaiser says.

Rising medical costs, “combined with the costs associated with the Affordable Care Act, have made it increasingly difficult to continue providing the same level of health care benefits to our employees at an affordable cost,” UPS said in a memo to employees.

According to Kaiser, UPS told white-collar workers two months ago that 15,000 working spouses eligible for coverage by their own employers would be excluded from the UPS plan in 2014.

UPS expects the move, which applies to non-union U.S. workers only, to save about $60 million a year, company spokesman Andy McGowan said.

The health law requires large employers to cover employees and dependent children, but not spouses or domestic partners, Kaiser adds.

Note: this applies only to spouses who are eligible for health care through their own employers and does not include spouses of union employees. The headline makes this sound worse that it is: in fact, it gets rid of the practice of employees getting health care benefits from two different plans. Good, bad, indifferent -- I don't know -- but that's about all it does. I don't think it's that big of a deal, but technically it does mean that some spouses will now have to find a new health care provider. In other words, they will join the list of those who will not be able to keep their current health care provider.