Obamacare cost...

[Uncle Ted]

This is political brinkmanship and grandstanding. Negatives I see from this "decision" are.

1. It makes me disinclined to ever eat there again (honestly, not that I'm missing much, the pizza is middling at best), and I can't be the only person to react this way to his statements.

Add Stryker to your list of companies' products not to buy... However, the founder's grandson is a big Obama fan.

Medical supply giant Stryker is the latest company to announce job cuts in anticipation of coming costs associated with ObamaCare, even though the man who inherited a fortune from the company's founder is a fan.

The company will cut 1,170 jobs, or five percent of its worldwide workforce, despite the fact that the founder's grandson was one of the largest contributors to President Obama’s re-election campaign. Medical tech scion Jon Stryker, whose net worth is currently estimated at $1.2 billion, contributed $2 million to the Priorities USA Action super PAC and has given $66,000 in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party. Stryker does not run the company.

A "medical device excise tax" included in the mandate imposes a 2.3 percent levy on medical device manufacturers and suppliers, which critics say will raise prices on everything from pacemakers to prosthetics to stents. Companies will be required to pay the tax regardless if they have a profit or loss for the year. The tax is estimated to cost the medical device industry $20 billion.

[...]

Taxing medical devices that people need seems as dumb as taxing food.

[hostile]

Add Stryker to your list of companies products not to buy... However, the founder's grandson is a big Obama fan.



Taxing medical devices that people need seems as dumb as taxing food.

I use several Stryker products. Most of the hospital beds where I have worked are manufactured by Stryker. I wonder if beds count as a medical device. It will be interesting to see if any of the guys I know lose their jobs.

[Uncle Ted]

I use several Stryker products. Most of the hospital beds where I have worked are manufactured by Stryker. I wonder if beds count as a medical device. It will be interesting to see if any of the guys I know lose their jobs.

So are saying that you going to continue buying products from this obviously racist company?!?

[hostile]

So are saying that you going to continue buying products from this obviously racist company?!?

I don't buy their products. Hospitals buy them and then sell them back to patients at significant mark up when I choose to use them.

[U-Ute]

I have to wonder a couple of things:

1. How much of these were planned RIF's anyway, and they are using Obamacare as a smokescreen to keep the backlash off of the company.

2. How much of these decisions are emotional decisions in a charged environment and therefore not based on solid business underpinnings.

[pellegrino]

This is political brinkmanship and grandstanding. Negatives I see from this "decision" are.

1. It makes me disinclined to ever eat there again (honestly, not that I'm missing much, the pizza is middling at best), and I can't be the only person to react this way to his statements.

wuap, you're too generous here. It's not really pizza, it's puff pastry with tomatoes and plastic on top.

[il Padrino Ute]

How does everyone feel about your HSA (or FSA if that's what you call it) getting cut in half starting Jan. 1? Obamacare limits the health saving accounts from $5000 to $2500.

[FMCoug]

How does everyone feel about your HSA (or FSA if that's what you call it) getting cut in half starting Jan. 1? Obamacare limits the health saving accounts from $5000 to $2500.

Does it come with vaseline?

[ERCougar]

How does everyone feel about your HSA (or FSA if that's what you call it) getting cut in half starting Jan. 1? Obamacare limits the health saving accounts from $5000 to $2500.

I just contacted my account manager and my contribution limit goes up from $6250 this year to $6400 next year. No cap on how much I can roll over each year.

[smokymountainrain]

I just contacted my account manager and my contribution limit goes up from $6250 this year to $6400 next year. No cap on how much I can roll over each year.

HSA max is 6450, FSA is $2500.

[U-Ute]

How does everyone feel about your HSA (or FSA if that's what you call it) getting cut in half starting Jan. 1? Obamacare limits the health saving accounts from $5000 to $2500.

Not particularly happy, especially since I will be doing braces next year. It is unfortunate, but not a huge deal.

[il Padrino Ute]

Not particularly happy, especially since I will be doing braces next year. It is unfortunate, but not a huge deal.

It will be a huge deal for millions of Americans, particularly those who were lied to by Obama about health care costs going down.

[FMCoug]

HSA max is 6450, FSA is $2500.

Okay that's not so bad as I am HSA. But I'd be pissed if I were still an employee at limited to $2500.

[U-Ute]

It will be a huge deal for millions of Americans, particularly those who were lied to by Obama about health care costs going down.

I can say that I never maxed out the $5,000, even with orthodontia. The most we did was either $2,500 or $2,750 since we were able to split the payment over two years.

In reality, the tax difference isn't that significant. Assuming a 15% tax rate, someone who maxed out the $5,000 before was saving $750. At a $2,500 maximum, they will only see $350 in tax savings - a difference of $350.

I have to wonder how many people were even using it, let alone maxing it out. It isn't very widely offered, and even in the places where it is, it doesn't seem like there is a high percentage of people who take advantage of it.

[smokymountainrain]

Okay that's not so bad as I am HSA. But I'd be pissed if I were still an employee at limited to $2500.

Depending on the HDHP product your company offers, a HSA is generally a superior option anyway.

FTR, you most certainly wouldn't be alone in being pissed about the $2500 FSA. In my company, anybody who doesn't choose the HSA option is a moran, so I really don't feel sorry for the FSA folks.