Restaurant owner says he will impose 5% Obamacare surcharge on bills

[Panacea]

We wouldn't have BS like this with single payer.

No, we wouldn't. But that was never on the table and won't be anytime soon.

Small business owners may indeed have some problems with implementing health insurance for their employees, and will have to pass along the costs.

5% is a bit much.

Remember that a lot of fast food places like Papa Johns are franchises; Papa John taking a pay cut won't help a franchisee owner.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

This is my full opinion on it.

All this boo-hooing and bawwing is really pissing me off. Why? Because no one. Not the CEOs, not the franchise owners, not the shareholders, would be making ONE RED CENT without these employees working their butts off, taking abuse from all sides. (No not all employers abuse their employees, but a lot of customers do and a lot of big wig comfy office job jerks do as well with stupid policies.)

Yet they don't deserve to have healthcare?

As soon as we start treating people at the bottom of the pay grade as replaceable (whether the idea is true or not) then we're failing as a society. FAILING.

Every time I hear someone argue, "Yes but they agreed to be paid X.XX so they shouldn't be complaining they're getting what they agreed to," I see red. (No one has argued that here, but I hear it an awful lot.) That's like saying "You can freeze to death or you can snuggle with this guy who has severe body order and might have a crush on you. But his body heat will keep you alive long enough for emergency personnel to get to you. Which do you pick?" Except there's no emergency personnel coming to get you out of this. Just a lot of people ready and willing to kick you in the teeth if it means they get something, however marginal, out of it.

[Gravekeeper]

Yet, oddly enough, Papa John's in Canada and the UK seem to be able to operate just fine under the cruel yoke of socialism and its crushing tax rates without going out of business. ;p

[Duelist925]

Yet, oddly enough, Papa John's in Canada and the UK seem to be able to operate just fine under the cruel yoke of socialism and its crushing tax rates without going out of business. ;p

Don't you know? Canada is a myth, perpetuated by the liberal media as a socialist paradise!!!1!!

[fireheart17]

And had Papa John's been operating Down Under, they have no problem providing decent benefits to its staff

[ExRetailDrone]

I'm pretty sure South Korea also has a single payer system, and there are Papa John's restaurants here. Seriously, he has no reasonable excuse.

[lordlundar]

Well Obamacare is actually going to hurt their profit margin, just not in the way they think it is.

See, they have to cut back to get below the requirement for having to pay out but that level isn't going anywhere and there's only so much profit to be had before they have to start going above it. In doing this, they have effectively capped their own profit making ability while the competition realizing they stand to profit more by going above the level is going to run them into the ground.

[EricKei]

Ya know -- I can't help but think that PJ's and similar places could have stayed out of the news, and raised the prices without all of this falderal, if they just blamed it on inflation and mayyybe gas prices (they only recently came down, and they're still pretty high, imho) -- which IS a perfectly legitimate reason to bump up prices. The bulk of their employees (I used to be one, in another life) make minimum wage, so it's not like they could have dropped pay rates.

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This just in

SOME Denny's restaurants are joining in on the fun.

PS, At least one Applebee's franchisee was talking about doing the same, tho the parent company pretty is/was staying mum on the subject.

[Rapscallion]

Ho hum. Every business that incurs extra expense passes it on to the customer. This is purely political, because every other time the business in question does its damnedest to distract the customer away from the price rises.

Rapscallion

[guywithashovel]

I have a feeling that this is nothing more than showboating which will turn out to be temporary. After financial reform passed, a few banks said they were going to start charging fees to use their debit cards, and shortly thereafter they backed out of doing that.

[Panacea]

I'm pretty sure South Korea also has a single payer system, and there are Papa John's restaurants here. Seriously, he has no reasonable excuse.

Sort of. South Korea has a single payer system, but it's more like the US system (or rather what the exchanges are meant to provide) in that it's health insurance rather than government owned hospitals. Most hospitals and doctor's practices are privately owned. All health care save for elective procedures are covered.

I've learned a lot about their health care; been doing some research since my visit there last summer (thankfully I did not have to actually access their system).

[ExRetailDrone]

Sort of. South Korea has a single payer system, but it's more like the US system (or rather what the exchanges are meant to provide) in that it's health insurance rather than government owned hospitals. Most hospitals and doctor's practices are privately owned. All health care save for elective procedures are covered.

I've learned a lot about their health care; been doing some research since my visit there last summer (thankfully I did not have to actually access their system).

Yes, I suppose this is true. I have the national health insurance, but it's still insurance. I honestly don't know a lot about the health system here, as I have rarely used it. Unlike my coworkers, I don't go to the doctor for medicine every time I get the sniffles I have to say it is nice to only pay the equivalent of less than $5 to see a doctor, though (depending what you're being seen for, of course).

[Anthony K. S.]

I agree that this is just a political stunt.

Prices increase all the time, and usually the LAST thing that a business wants is for their customers to notice. Let alone broadcast it.

Will it do any good?

I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that the only people who will be impressed by this are the people who are already against Obama, anyway.

I think that, by and large, Obama supporters and swing voters will just think this guy is being a jerk.