ObamaCare Chickens Coming Home to Roost

The Administration cared little when voters and employers warned of the problems in ObamaCare. Now that it's passed, every day brings more evidence that it should have listened to those warnings.

The Wall Street Journal reports that McDonald's may have to stop paying health insurance for 30,000 of its employees as a result of an onerous provision of the law which by design or not will drive private insurers from the market unless repealed:

McDonald's Corp. has warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul.

The move is one of the clearest indications that new rules may disrupt workers' health plans as the law ripples through the real world.

Trade groups representing restaurants and retailers say low-wage employers might halt their coverage if the government doesn't loosen a requirement for "mini-med" plans, which offer limited benefits to some 1.4 million Americans.

McDonald's says the new health law threatens coverage for many workers, like these in Times Square. .The requirement concerns the percentage of premiums that must be spent on benefits.

While many restaurants don't offer health coverage, McDonald's provides mini-med plans for workers at 10,500 U.S. locations, most of them franchised. A single worker can pay $14 a week for a plan that caps annual benefits at $2,000, or about $32 a week to get coverage up to $10,000 a year.

Last week, a senior McDonald's official informed the Department of Health and Human Services that the restaurant chain's insurer won't meet a 2011 requirement to spend at least 80% to 85% of its premium revenue on medical care.

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