AT&T anticipates a current quarter cost of $1 billion for health care reform

[chanel]

Yes. Sarcasm noted lefties but that won't buy you squat. These corporations are not looking for sympathy - they are reporting the facts. If you think that the CEOs and stock holders are just going to suck it up, you are sorely mistaken. And switching your service won't make a damn difference Verizon, Sprint, and all their competitors will do the same. Sad, sad times ahead.

 

[Si modo]

Corporations do not pay the cost of benefits, their customers do. AT&T, Caterpillar, and countless other corporations are going to lay off workers and/or raise prices to pay for Obamacare.

Sadly, we haven't even begun to see all of the other "unintended consequences" that will most certainly result from this POS legislation.......stay tuned for more bad news for the American citizens. But heh, in four years or so, they'll have government mandated and rationed health care, whether they want it or not. For liberals, the ends justify the means- even it means lying, cheating, stealing, and screwing the citizenry.

Remaining corporations have been left no choice but to go offshore. America will be a shell. Obama has ensured our destruction.

Deere (And Others) In The Headlights

Posted 06:59 PM ET

Health Reform: As major businesses lay out the impact of ObamaCare in dollars and jobs, two things are clear: the costs will be enormous, and the president's vow to focus on "jobs, jobs, jobs" can no longer be believed.

....

Now they're being punished for doing what the government asked them to do.

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., last Dec. 11, Deere and other signatories said the health care reform then under consideration "would negatively impact both retirees and companies."

Nobody was listening.

....

Besides Deere, the letter was signed by Boeing, Con-Way Freight, Exelon, Navistar, Verizon, Caterpillar, MetLife, Public Service Enterprise Group and Xerox.

Investors.com - Deere (And Others) In The Headlights

 

[jeffrockit]

AT&T is anticipating a cost of $1 billion this quarter to cover the new health care reform law passed this week.

AT&T to take $1 billion charge on health care bill - Mar. 26, 2010

Great, the benefits of this plan are starting to become obvious. Oh, did I say benefits? I guess I should have said costs.

Rick

And when they raise their rates (they will have to), and/or lay employees off, you will hear all those that favored Obamacare scream for the govt to do something about these evil corporations raising their prices. The govt control will never end now that this terrible piece of legislation has passed.
I realize the lefties will just say this is fear mongering but this is just the new reality in Obamaland.

 

[WillowTree]

yes, it makes a great deal of sense to tax the corporations out of America.. donut??

 

[Luissa]

I'm sure AT&T is just about going broke..

Yeah Sarah, maybe we should take up a collection in USMB, now I feel bad for them.

And they have more customers than Comcast, who have like 40 million subscribers at a minimum of $45/mo up to hundreds per month for all the 'stuff'. Let's see $45 times 40 MILLION per month. Yup I gotta send them a donation.

YOu mean $45 plus the $20+ you have to spend on fees and extra charges.
Don't feel bad for cell phone companies.

 

[JenyEliza]

b-b-b-but....Obama care will make more jobs and feed the children and improve quality of care and end world hunger and magically make everyone smart!

Is that what BHOcare is supposed to do?

 

[Care4all]

they should never have gotten the DOUBLE DEDUCTION in the FIRST place...

Why complain about this? It was not fair....why should I be paying TWICE for what they give THEIR employees in benefits with MY tax dollars?

THIS IS A GOOD MEASURE.

 

[JenyEliza]

Yes. Sarcasm noted lefties but that won't buy you squat. These corporations are not looking for sympathy - they are reporting the facts. If you think that the CEOs and stock holders are just going to suck it up, you are sorely mistaken. And switching your service won't make a damn difference Verizon, Sprint, and all their competitors will do the same. Sad, sad times ahead.

I've worked for T and one or two of the other telcos you listed as well (as we all do eventually, for those of us in the biz).

1. Nope, T isn't looking for sympathy. Stating facts and facts alone, in an effort to soften the blow when it comes to their customer's impending sticker shock.

2. T's CEO, executive board members, and stock holders aren't going to eat any increase in the cost of doing business as a result of BHObamacare. They will be passing these costs along to the customer in one form or another, directly or indirectly.

3. Switching service providers will make NO difference at all. Telcos play follow the leader. They all do what the other is doing. They will wait it out and see what the others do. What one does, they all eventually do. For instance....Sprint's "Simply Everything" plan for $69.99 was copied by Verizon, T-Mobile and AT*T.

4. If passing the increased cost of doing business along to the customer (directly or indirectly) doesn't help improve their bottom line, the next step will be lay offs. It is highly unlikely many (if any at all) of these jobs will come back once they are gone.

The way lay offs work in Telco goes something like this: 1st round is "Last hired, first fired" and also early retirement packages and voluntary separation. If a 1st round cut doesn't help and they have to go to a second or third round, they dig a little deeper and start looking for those who are least likely to be in a position to take early retirement, to take a voluntary package of any kind, or to be able to apply for unemployment. They outright get the chronically ill (even if they are on FMLA), the slackers and the dead weight.

And yes, there are sad sad times ahead in many businesses. Not just Telco.

 

[JenyEliza]

they should never have gotten the DOUBLE DEDUCTION in the FIRST place...

Why complain about this? It was not fair....why should I be paying TWICE for what they give THEIR employees in benefits with MY tax dollars?

THIS IS A GOOD MEASURE.

When I worked for T, they did NOT *give* me 100% of my health care premiums, they only paid a portion.

Out of pocket, I paid $800/month through payroll deduction for group health insurance and dental.

The portion of health care premium T paid for was ALSO treated as *taxable income*, as if it was cash I could spend at the grocery store or write a check with. .

You wanna re-think your reply?

 

[JenyEliza]

AT&T is anticipating a cost of $1 billion this quarter to cover the new health care reform law passed this week.

AT&T to take $1 billion charge on health care bill - Mar. 26, 2010

Great, the benefits of this plan are starting to become obvious. Oh, did I say benefits? I guess I should have said costs.

Rick

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs defended this change on Thursday, explaining that the previous law essentially allowed for two deductions - one for the employer's own contribution, and another for the tax-free federal subsidy.

So basically, no more gravy train.

How sad for AT&T. I think I'll change my phone company after learning they were benefiting off of taxpayers to this extent.

 

[Care4all]

they should never have gotten the DOUBLE DEDUCTION in the FIRST place...

Why complain about this? It was not fair....why should I be paying TWICE for what they give THEIR employees in benefits with MY tax dollars?

THIS IS A GOOD MEASURE.

When I worked for T, they did NOT *give* me 100% of my health care premiums, they only paid a portion.

Out of pocket, I paid $800/month through payroll deduction for group health insurance and dental.

The portion of health care premium T paid for was ALSO treated as *taxable income*, as if it was cash I could spend at the grocery store or write a check with. .

You wanna re-think your reply?

i don't know of any company that pays 100% of their employee's premiums, the hubby and i are paying $500 a month for the premiums and we have a $5000 deductible before the insurance pays in full...no kids on the coverage...

the point is that the gvt should not be subsidizing att employee's prescription costs TWICE....period!

 

[editec]

The cost of HC continues to suck more and more of the economy into its web, folks.

This latest "fix" F fixed almost nothing at all in that respect.

In fact this latest fix is probably only going to make things much worse in that respect.

Ten years from now, unless these "death panels" really get busy, you can expect the percentage of the GDP going into HC rise from its current 18% to something more like 25%.

Remember you read it here, first.

 

[Annie]

they should never have gotten the DOUBLE DEDUCTION in the FIRST place...

Why complain about this? It was not fair....why should I be paying TWICE for what they give THEIR employees in benefits with MY tax dollars?

THIS IS A GOOD MEASURE.

When I worked for T, they did NOT *give* me 100% of my health care premiums, they only paid a portion.

Out of pocket, I paid $800/month through payroll deduction for group health insurance and dental.

The portion of health care premium T paid for was ALSO treated as *taxable income*, as if it was cash I could spend at the grocery store or write a check with. .

You wanna re-think your reply?

i don't know of any company that pays 100% of their employee's premiums, the hubby and i are paying $500 a month for the premiums and we have a $5000 deductible before the insurance pays in full...no kids on the coverage...

the point is that the gvt should not be subsidizing att employee's prescription costs TWICE....period!

When I worked for SBC, since merged back into AT&T, they paid 100%. Granted that was nearly 30 years ago. My ex was in mid-management there, less than 10 years ago. They paid 100% of his insurance too.

I don't know what happens with the union workers today, (I was in IBEW back when).

 

[code1211]

o no! no more government handouts to a multi billion dollar company who illegaly spied on every american's internet and phone data! the horror!

I assume that you are referring to the evesdropping made famous by the press when Bush was in office, continued by the Obama administration and then ignored by the press.

This ignoring continues as I am typing right now.

But, getting back to the point of the discussion, AT+T is a company that provides healthcare to it's employees. The government said that it would cut costs. AT+T is spending a billion dollars more to cover the decreased cost. Interesting notion this government has of decreased costs.

All premiums are about to increase. The government, in addition to the increased premiumns and the increased employer outlays is going to spend an additional TRILLION dollars.

Can you please point ou where the reduced costs are occurring?

 

[code1211]

I'm sure AT&T is just about going broke..

Why on Earth should that be a concern? AT+T is a company that is in business, and been for a long time, creating wealth for itself and its employees. Through taxes generated, AT+T has enriched this country and the communities in which it operates and in which its employees live and work, build schools and commune with one another and their neighbors.

Is it your goal to reduce that organization to a memory because they still have some money that can be taken?

When the government takes over anything, it gets less generous and produces no profit. When was the last time you saw a little league team or a kids soccer team sponsored by the the US Government? That is our future on our current course.

Government sponsored groups are a frightening thing to place your hopes in.

You are betting that the Hitler Youth is better than the Boy Scouts. Others have made that same bet.

 

[uscitizen]

Ahh the price goes up and the economy looks better. Like when gas went to $3+/gal.

Employee effeciency / output numbers also go up.

 

[chanel]

in the words of the articulate and clean VP Biden "We have to spend more to save more" Economic genius.

 

[uscitizen]

Yeah what I said back when Gas and commodities were so high and all the right was bragging on the economy.

 

[Care4all]

I'm sure AT&T is just about going broke..

Why on Earth should that be a concern? AT+T is a company that is in business, and been for a long time, creating wealth for itself and its employees. Through taxes generated, AT+T has enriched this country and the communities in which it operates and in which its employees live and work, build schools and commune with one another and their neighbors.

Is it your goal to reduce that organization to a memory because they still have some money that can be taken?

When the government takes over anything, it gets less generous and produces no profit. When was the last time you saw a little league team or a kids soccer team sponsored by the the US Government? That is our future on our current course.

Government sponsored groups are a frightening thing to place your hopes in.

You are betting that the Hitler Youth is better than the Boy Scouts. Others have made that same bet.

Can you tell us, in your best Republican Cloak, WHY our government should give a full reduction of drug costs for businesses and then give them another $1350 PER person subsidy on TOP OF IT for the costs that they were already given a full deduction for?

THAT'S CORPORATE WELFARE.

That's not conservatism.

 

[Annie]

I'm sure AT&T is just about going broke..

Why on Earth should that be a concern? AT+T is a company that is in business, and been for a long time, creating wealth for itself and its employees. Through taxes generated, AT+T has enriched this country and the communities in which it operates and in which its employees live and work, build schools and commune with one another and their neighbors.

Is it your goal to reduce that organization to a memory because they still have some money that can be taken?

When the government takes over anything, it gets less generous and produces no profit. When was the last time you saw a little league team or a kids soccer team sponsored by the the US Government? That is our future on our current course.

Government sponsored groups are a frightening thing to place your hopes in.

You are betting that the Hitler Youth is better than the Boy Scouts. Others have made that same bet.

Can you tell us, in your best Republican Cloak, WHY our government should give a full reduction of drug costs for businesses and then give them another $1350 PER person subsidy on TOP OF IT for the costs that they were already given a full deduction for?

THAT'S CORPORATE WELFARE.

That's not conservatism.

I don't know if on this thread or another, it was mentioned that this 'break' allows the employer to provide prescription coverage for retirees that otherwise would be costing twice as much under medicare. Now they will be dumped into the much more expensive system.

Don't ask me details, I am paraphrasing what I read. Worth checking into however.