Obamacare could force volunteer fire departments to close
Via Cousin John
The Affordable Care Act forces companies with more than 50 workers to buy them all health insurance or pay hefty fines
The IRS says volunteer firefighters are 'employees,' even though the Department of Labor says they're 'volunteers'
Out of more than 1 million fire departments in the U.S., 87 per cent are staffed entirely or mostly by life-saving volunteers
Members
of Congress are weighing in, but the Obama administration hasn't taken
any action yet to carve out a fire-fighting exceptionVolunteer fire departments all across
the U.S. could find themselves out of money and unable to operate
unless Congress or the Obama Administration exempts them from the
Affordable Care Act.
'I thought the kinks were worked out
of Obamacare at the first of the month,' Central Florida volunteer
firefighter Carl Fabrizi told Sunshine State News.
'Man, oh, man, this could potentially destroy some real good companies in Florida.'
The
U.S. Department of Labor takes the term 'volunteer' literally, but the
IRS says volunteer firefighters are technically employees if they're on
the job more than 30 hours per week, making them subject to Obamacare's
employee-mandate rules.
I was considering joining the vol fire department, they seemed like a fun bunch. I hope this doesn't happen because I still might.
ReplyDeleteThis is a bridge to far for Obamacare.
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