By Jennifer Schmidt | Staff Writer
Under the Affordable Healthcare Act, commonly known as Obamacare, the federal government launched the healthcare marketplace, an online service where citizens can sign up and shop for health coverage available in their state Oct. 1.
The website for California residents is coveredca.com, where individuals can input their age, yearly income and household members to review and purchase standardized health care plans and find out if they are eligible for government subsidies.
“I lost hours (working as a waitress at Corky’s Kitchen and Bakery in Rancho Cucamonga) because of (the healthcare changes),” said Elise Lutz, freshman pre-nursing major.
“Part time got cut from 35 hours to 30, so a bunch of people at my work got hours cut. Our schedules are all screwed and people have weird shifts because my manager is trying to get the most out of the few hours people can work.”
The Affordable Healthcare Act requires employers to provide medical insurance for employees working more than 30 hours a week.
“I am a single mother and have three kids at home that need to eat,” said Shirly Thomas, assistant manager at the International House of Pancakes in Lake Elsinore. “This job is their well-being, and I can no longer provide for it with the hours I am given each week.”
The Investor’s Business Daily poll stated that millions of individuals have lost jobs or had hours cut due to Obamacare, particularly in low-income, less educated households.
Among those surveyed, six percent said they or someone in their household had been laid off due to ObamaCare. Overall, eight percent reported having hours cut, but 11 percent of those with low-paying jobs said they had their hours cut to fewer than thirty hours every week.
Eighty-five percent of Americans currently have healthcare through their employer, so there is no need to seek public insurance.
The question of where the money to pay for it will come from is one that does not have an answer.
While their hours are being cut, the cost of healthcare looms in the distance.
