The answer depends on who you ask, where you ask, what time of day it is, if the sun is shinning, and a host of other factors. There is some argument, however, that when it comes to McCrory’s decision not to expand Medicare, he brought more financial pain down on North Carolina businesses. This article by the Associated Press in yesterday’s Washington Post explains that refusing to expand Medicaid leaves more business exposed to tax penalties under the healthcare reform laws that could add up to over $1 billion in fines in just one year. That’s a lot of fines for businesses in North Carolina that are already struggling to cope with the healthcare reform laws and a sluggish (to say the least) state economy.
Under the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility mandate, employers with 50 or more workers that don’t offer coverage face penalties if just one of their workers gets subsidized health insurance through the Exchange. There is a window of relief, however, where no penalties are applied to employers for not offering coverage if their workers are eligible for Medicaid. The ACA gave the states the opportunity to open that window wider, with the expansion of Medicaid. By refusing to take the fed’s up on the offer, McCrory didn’t close the window of relief, but he didn’t make it any bigger like the states that chose to expand Medicaid. A recent report from Jackson Hewitt estimates that over 78,000 additional people in North Carolina could fit through that window if McCrory opened it a little wider. These low-income workers who otherwise would have been eligible for Medicare but aren’t because of MrCrory’s decision, can still get subsidized health insurance through the Exchange….and trigger a hefty penalty for their employer in the process. Jackson Hewitt estimates the potential penalties to North Carolina employers to be anywhere from $65.5 million to $98.3 million. Ouch, that double-edged sword hurts.
