Businesses are gradually accepting the Affordable Care Act. So what's your next move, GOP?

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Obamacare’s not so bad after all, business leaders say
By Bill Hethcock, February 1, 2015

How's the Affordable Care Act working out for you?

That was the question that Dallas Business Journal Publisher Tracy Merzi put to panelists at a recent manufacturing summit in Dallas.

"Actually, it's a little bit better than we thought it would be, strangely enough," said Mike Winemiller, president and CEO of Briggs International, a Dallas-based industrial equipment dealer.

"We have a bunch of Republicans sitting on the board," he added. "We were all pessimistic … but I think overall it's a very viable option in the marketplace."

The Affordable Care Act has put a focus on wellness in a way that's beneficial to businesses, said Winemiller, who told me after the panel discussion that he lost 67 pounds in the past year, motivated in large part by incentives stemming from the ACA.

The Federal Reserve surveys employers about the impact of the Affordable Care Act, and businesses are gradually accepting it, said Jesus Canas, business economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

"At the beginning of the health care act there was a lot of uncertainty, and they were really concerned about the effects," Canas said. "But as time has passed they have changed their attitude about the health care act."

The Federal Reserve has specifically asked whether the ACA will cause employers to change their hiring plans, and most say the act is not affecting those decisions, Canas said. Nor are employers cutting workers' hours to less than 30 per week to avoid being forced under the act to provide health insurance, he said.

Paul Mayer, CEO of the Garland Chamber of Commerce, said health care providers, insurers and employers are coming together in ways that wouldn't have happened without the Affordable Care Act.

The ACA has forced businesses and their employees as well as physicians and insurance carriers to pay attention to health care and the associated costs like never before, Mayer said.

Employers and insurers, for example, are adding teeth to their wellness programs to control health care-related costs, Mayer said. Little steps such as switching to generic drugs instead of name brands can add up to big savings, he added.

"It's a long-term cultural shift, and I think the catalyst for it was the Affordable Care Act," Mayer said.

Employers such as Baylor Scott & White Health Care System won't hire smokers or people who use tobacco in any form, Mayer pointed out. He expects other businesses to follow suit.

Mayer added that he, at age 65, lost 80 pounds in the past year, changed his diet and started working out, and his impetus was the focus the ACA has put on people taking charge of their own health.

"I'm part of that movement that realizes it's my responsibility," he said.

Now, businesses need consistency in health care regulation, Mayer and Winemiller agreed.

"Let's don't wait three years and then change the whole darn thing," Winemiller said. "That, to me, is idiotic. We've got to make sure the government stays consistent."
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