President Obama’s signature health care law is “a good thing for the country,” Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said in an interview with CNBC anchor and USA Today contributor Maria Bartiromo published Monday.
Schultz’s remarks come just a few weeks after he told Reuters that the coffee chain would not use the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, as “an excuse” to cut health benefits or worker hours.
Several companies have recently announced cuts to worker benefits, citing concerns about rising costs under Obamacare. The law requires employers with 50 or more full-time workers to offer health care coverage, or pay a fine.
Just last week, The Huffington Post reported that Trader Joe's would be cutting health care benefits for part-time workers who log fewer than 30 hours per week.
In August, UPS, the country’s fourth-largest employer, said it would stop providing health insurance for spouses of non-union workers who can get health care through their own employers, according to Reuters. IBM also recently announced that it would end company-provided health coverage for about 110,000 retirees.
Schultz suggested in the interview with Bartiromo that his support for Obamacare was rooted in the belief that companies “need to significantly invest back into the country."