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Aurora Health Care Says It Will Lay Off Employees Because Of Obamacare

Health Care Provider On Obamacare: 'We Don't Want People To Be Afraid, But Things Are Different'
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Former Associate Business Editor, The Huffington Post

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FILE - In this March 23, 2010, file photo, President Barack Obama reaches for a pen to sign the health care bill in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Obamas re-election has guaranteed the survival of his health care law. Now the administration is in a sprint to the finish line to put it into place. In just 11 months, millions of uninsured people can start signing up for coverage. But there are hurdles in the way. Republican governors will have to decide whether they can join the team and help carry out what theyve dismissed as "Obamacare." And the administration could stumble under the sheer strain of implementing the complex legislation, or get tripped up in budget talks with Congress. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

It looks like Obamacare is having some negative effects on the industry it was intended to help.

Dr. Nick Turkal, CEO of Wisconsin-based non-profit health care provider Aurora Health Care, announced earlier this month that his employer would be cutting jobs due to Obamacare, The Journal Times reports. In a letter to employees he wrote that the company would be receiving $13 million less in government reimbursements forcing it to make “position eliminations plus discontinuation of some positions in the coming weeks.”

The cuts will be small considering Aurora’s 30,000 current employees but things could get worse in the future. Already, staff has been instructed to cut costs by avoiding making color copies; physicians serving Medicare patients may receive a cut in payments.

“We don’t want people to be afraid, but things are different,” Aurora spokeswoman Myrle Croasdale told the Journal Times.

Aurora isn’t the only one in the health care industry to claim Obamacare is forcing layoffs. Orlando Health, a Florida network of community and specialty hospitals, said it would be laying off 400 employees due to new Obamacare costs, One News Now reports. Likewise, small medical device company ADM Tronics says Obamacare will mean the company will have to lay off employees for the first time in over a decade, according to Fox News.

Obamacare has had positive effects on the health care industry, as well, however. While these companies have reported increased costs, hospitals and insurance companies alike are expected to receive a large influx in payments due to the new health law, Forbes reports. As a result, investors are betting that the industry will see big profits, already driving stocks of various health care companies in the S&P 500 up 7.3 percent this year, The Washington Post reports.

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Before You Go

Taxes And Fees In Healthcare Overhaul
Upper-Income Households(01 of07)
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Starting Jan. 1, individuals making more than $200,000 per year, and couples making more than $250,000, will face a 0.9 percent Medicare tax increase on wages above those threshold amounts. They'll also face an additional 3.8 percent tax on investment income. Together these are the biggest tax increase in the health care law. (credit:WikiMedia:)
Employer Penalties(02 of07)
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Starting in 2014, companies with 50 or more employees that do not offer coverage will face penalties if at least one of their employees receives government-subsidized coverage. The penalty is $2,000 per employee, but a company's first 30 workers don't count toward the total. (credit:Shutterstock)
Health Care Industries(03 of07)
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Insurers, drug companies and medical device manufacturers face new fees and taxes. Companies that make medical equipment sold chiefly through doctors and hospitals, such as pacemakers, artificial hips and coronary stents, will pay a 2.3 percent excise tax on their sales, expected to total $1.7 billion in its first year, 2013. They're trying to get it repealed. (credit:Shutterstock)
Insurance Industry(04 of07)
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The insurance industry faces an annual fee that starts at $8 billion in its first year, 2014. (credit:Shutterstock)
Pharmaceutical Companies(05 of07)
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Pharmaceutical companies that make or import brand-name drugs are already paying fees; they totaled $2.5 billion in 2011, the first year. (credit:Shutterstock)
People Who Don't Get Health Insurance(06 of07)
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Nearly 6 million people who don't get health insurance will face tax penalties starting in 2014. The fines are estimated to raise $6.9 billion in 2016. Average penalty in that year: about $1,200. (credit:Shutterstock)
Indoor Tanning Devotees(07 of07)
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The 10 percent sales tax on indoor tanning sessions took effect in 2010. It's expected to raise $1.5 billion over 10 years.The 28 million people who visit tanning booths and beds each year – mostly women under 30, according to the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology – are already paying. Tanning salons were singled out because of strong medical evidence that exposure to ultraviolet lights increases the risk of skin cancer. (credit:Shutterstock)
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