Due To ObamaCare American Enterprise Insurance Will Eliminate 70 Jobs In Omaha
In 2009, Senator Ben Nelson provided Democrats with the 60th and final vote in favor of President Obama’s $2.5 trillion government-run health care bill after cutting a backroom deal – which has often been referred to as the Cornhusker Kickback – with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).
Nearly three years later, Nebraskans continue to witnessing the devastating effects of this job-killing bill as the Iowa-based insurer American Enterprise Group has recently announced that due to the burdensome regulations of this massive and costly bill it will be leaving the individual medical insurance market. As a result, 110 employees will be losing their jobs, which includes 70 workers in Omaha.
As the Des Moines Register reports:
“Des Moines-based American Enterprise Group announced Thursday that it will exit the individual major medical insurance market, making it the 13th company to pull out of some portion of Iowa’s health insurance business since June 2010. The move means 110 employees will lose their jobs over the next three years — 40 in Des Moines and 70 in Omaha. It also underscores the widespread anxiety among insurance companies over the raft of regulation resulting from the health care overhaul bill. ‘It’s a fairly predictable consequence of the regulation,’ said Michael Abbott, the president and CEO of American Enterprise Group, the parent company of American Republic Insurance. ‘The regulatory environment’s getting really complicated.’”
Additionally, the healthcare bill cut Medicare by $500 billion, raised taxes by $500 billion and was opposed by a strong majority of Nebraskans.
“If Nebraskans were upset with Ben Nelson for the Cornhusker Kickerback, which paved the way for ObamaCare to become the law of the land, then they will be even more troubled to learn that his healthcare law is on the verge of killing 70 jobs in Nebraska,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Jahan Wilcox. “Unfortunately, this is just another example of the consequences when Ben Nelson stands with his liberal friends in Washington, instead of standing up for workers in Nebraska.”
BACKGROUND
NELSON WAS THE MAN WHO MADE OBAMACARE THE LAW OF THE LAND
“After A Grueling Stretch Of Dealmaking, Reid (D-Nev.) Announced This Weekend That He Had Won The Support Of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Giving Him The 60th Vote, Needed To Overcome A Republican Filibuster.” (Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray, “Health Bill Approaches Key Vote In Senate,” The Washington Post, 12/21/09)
WHICH TOOK OVER $500 BILLION FROM MEDICARE
The Health Care Bill Cut Medicare By Roughly “$500 Billion Over The Next Decade.” “To cover the cost of those changes, the compromise would impose a 3.8 percent Medicare tax on investment income for wealthy taxpayers, a levy that would come in addition to a Senate-proposed increase in the regular payroll tax for those families. And it would slice an additional $60 billion from Medicare, with the privately run program known as Medicare Advantage targeted for particularly deep cuts, bringing the total reduction in projected spending on the program to more than $500 billion over the next decade.” (Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane, “House Leaders Announce $940 Billion Health-Care Compromise Bill,” The Washington Post, 3/19/10)
AND WILL SOON KILL 70 JOBS IN OMAHA, NEBRASKA
DES MOINES REGISTER: “Des Moines-based American Enterprise Group announced Thursday that it will exit the individual major medical insurance market, making it the 13th company to pull out of some portion of Iowa’s health insurance business since June 2010. The move means 110 employees will lose their jobs over the next three years — 40 in Des Moines and 70 in Omaha. It also underscores the widespread anxiety among insurance companies over the raft of regulation resulting from the health care overhaul bill. ‘It’s a fairly predictable consequence of the regulation,’ said Michael Abbott, the president and CEO of American Enterprise Group, the parent company of American Republic Insurance. ‘The regulatory environment’s getting really complicated.’” (Iowa insurer exits some individual health policies, Des Moines Register, 10/20/11)
