The new Republican-controlled Congress is still tackling the Affordable Care Act. Many of President Obama’s critics want the law repealed entirely. One of the more vocal critics is Republican House Speaker John Boehner. Boehner claims:
"All the regulations that are coming out of Washington make it more difficult for employers to hire more people. Chief amongst those, I would argue, is Obamacare, which basically puts a penalty or a tax on employers for every new job they create."
PolitiFact rated the claim for its truthfulness. Writer Joshua Gillin said the claim rates HALF TRUE. According to Gillin, the impact isn’t as big as Boehner implies.
“If you own a business and you’re going to be insuring them or not insuring them, either way you’re going to have to pay,” Gillin said. “We looked at the numbers and a good number of firms already insure their people. What we figured out, nationally, only about 1% of all employers are going to be affected by this. That’s about 26,000 firms out of some 5.7 million employers.”
Still, independent experts say that doesn’t mean there aren’t valid concerns for employers. The Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate does require health insurance coverage for employees working 30 hours or more a week.
Some say employers could cut hours to get workers under the 30-hour-per-week threshold and avoid the health-insurance requirement.
Because Boehner’s statement is partially accurate, but leaves out some key details, PolitiFact rated the claim HALF TRUE.
SOURCES: AFFORDABLE CARE ACT EMPLOYER MANDATE
- PolitiFact's rating
- John Boehner, interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes, Jan. 25, 2015
- Census Bureau, "Number of Firms, Number of Establishments, Employment, and Annual Payroll by Enterprise Employment Size for the United States and States, Totals: 2012," accessed Jan. 29, 2015
- Kaiser Family Foundation, "Percentage of firms offering health benefits to at least some of their workers by firm size, 2014," accessed Jan. 29, 2015
- PolitiFact, "CEO of Carl's Jr. says 'Obamacare has caused millions of full-time jobs to become part-time,' " Jan. 23, 2015
- Email interview with Craig Palosky, spokesman for the Kaiser Family Foundation, Jan. 28, 2015
- Email interview with Gail Wilensky, head of Medicare and Medicaid under President George H.W. Bush, Jan. 28, 2015
- Email interview with Christine Eibner, senior economist at RAND Corp., Jan. 28, 2015
- Email interview with Michael Steel, spokesman for John Boehner, Jan. 28, 2015