If McDonald's thinks it's OK to play politics with and "boycott" its employees' health insurance, then I think it might be time to BOYCOTT Big Macs, french fries, milk shakes and Happy Meals.
It bothered me the last few times at my local McDonald's when I had to eat my McFood while FOX News lied, distorted and misinformed from a television perched overhead, just a french fry throw away. On one occasion, I got up and shut the TV off. On another, I ate outside, lest I puke trans fats all over Ronald's clownshoes.
But when I read today that McDonald's has threatened the White House with dropping health insurance for 30 thousand of its McWorkers, unless changes are made to Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), I did in fact vomit.
The twisted irony.
McDonald's has decided that it can't afford to meet new regulations designed to ensure that premiums are spent on actual health care:
The hamburger chain complains that new HMO regulations are to blame. Why? The health insurance that its franchises now offer cap total benefits at $2,000 to $10,000 a year. And less than 80% of the premium dollars for the plan go toward health care. Under ObamaCare neither of those will fly.
McDonald’s Plays Politics, Brags About Selling Its McWorkers Appalling Health Coverage
McDonald’s is cynically playing politics with its workers health. And it’s hoping to make a point about the unintended consequences of ObamaCare. Yet it’s also admitting, publicly, that the benefit it calls health insurance, which it offers its workers for $14 a week–is actually rubbish.
I am willing to pay $1.25 for a double-cheeseburger, instead of the cut-rate 1 dollar from the value menu, if that means that Ronald's workers are provided adequate health insurance coverage. But McDonald's will likely calculate that they will no longer be able to destroy their competition by offering cut-rate burgers to inflict predatory pricing on its competitors over at Burger King and Wendy's et al.
McDonald's 2008 revenues were $22.6 billion with net income of $4.3 billion, with many of its employees working in other countries where health care is provided for all. We are talking about 30K "hourly" employees, which probably excludes part-time employees, who likely aren't offered any health insurance at all.
Consider this. If you buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks rather than at McDonalds you’ll pay more. But you’ll also be supporting a company that provides its baristas with real benefits. Grab a 99 cent latte at McDonald’s and you’re supporting a company that makes its employees poorer and sicker and then complains about how the government is getting in the way.
I am not recommending Starbuck's as an alternative to McDonald's, but the point is valid (I prefer my local independent coffee shop. Plug: Haymarket Cafe).
So, McDonald's sent a memo to the White House and delivered same to Rupert Murdoch's The Wall Street Journal, which ran with the "unintended consequences from the health overhaul" to stoke fear in people that they would in fact lose their health insurance coverage from their employers.
McDonald's May Drop Health Plan
SEPTEMBER 30, 2010
Gag.Me.With.A.Big.Mac.
McDonald's, in a memo to federal officials, said "it would be economically prohibitive for our carrier to continue offering" the mini-med plan unless it got an exemption from the requirement to spend 80% to 85% of premiums on benefits. Officials said McDonald's would probably have to hit the 85% figure, which applies to larger group plans. Its insurer, BCS Insurance Group of Oak Brook Terrace, Ill., declined to comment.
McDonald's didn't disclose what the plan's current medical loss ratio was.
Declined to comment. Didn't disclose. Really? How about you shove your Big Mac and fries? Of course, the insurer is directly advising how to proceed and probably even crafted the memo for Ronald McDonald.
More recently, insurers have proposed a round of double-digit premium increases and said new coverage mandates in the law are partly to blame. HHS has criticized the proposed increases as unwarranted.
It is not practical for us to rise up and boycott the true culprit, health insurers, because we do need health insurance, but we sure as hell can boycott Big Macs, fries, milk shakes, and Happy Unhealthy Meals.
Seriously, we cannot afford to allow these giant corporations to feed us unhealthy garbage, pay ridiculously low wages, and then deny us legitimate health coverage.
It's outrageous. And I am outraged. And I hate that McDoanld's has FOX News on while I'm trying to eat. They make me sick. All of them. Even the Clown. F him.
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UPDATE (courtesy of jsfox below):
http://finance.yahoo.com/...
McDonald's said Thursday in a statement it has been speaking with federal agencies to understand the law, but the company called reports that it planned to drop health care coverage for employees "completely false."
It doesn't seem "completely false" to me, but at least McDonald's is on record saying it is.