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Yep, the employer mandate won't kick in but the hirees will have their own insurance.
Or they will pay the tax < 300.00 per year.
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Yep, a loophole in Obamacare as currently constituted is that it is cheaper to pay the penalty (i.e., tax) than to buy the mandated coverage. For anyone willing to go without coverage for the nickel and dime ills of everyday life, it will make economic sense to just pay the penalty/tax, and defer the insurance purchase until something serious happens. If you are young and healthy, you could go for a lot of years before you need to pony up for a full premium. Economically, the concept is similar to the idea of a catastrophic coverage policy in which you self-insure for minor ills and then can fall back on the catastrophic coverage if something bad happens. With the elimination of the pre-existing condition exclusion, this will become a reasonable strategy for some people. It also works against the long term success of the plan design (such as it is) and creates an adverse selection bubble down the road.
Some of the best minds in the country are working on this problem. Unfortunately, those minds are not in the government.
