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BY STEVEN HSIEH

The health care battle is going to a new stage – McDonald’s.  The Wall Street Journal reports the fast food chain warned federal officials it might be forced to drop 30,000 employees’ limited insurance plans unless the government exempts the company from a new requirement.

McDonald’s has since denied this claim, saying they will continue to offer so-called “mini-med” plans, which allow workers to pay $14 a week for insurance coverage that caps at $2,000 a year.

Despite the denial, Damon Silvers of the AFL-CIO tells CNN McDonalds is playing politics with its employees’ health.

“McDonalds is trying to say we want to leverage the administration to not enforcing the law by threatening to cut off health care to these low-wage workers who pay for it with their own money."

The law in question requires large employers to spend between 80-85% of premiums on benefits, which McDonalds says would be economically impractical.  

A blogger for Forbes defends this logic, noting that there’s – quote -- “no such thing as a free Big Mac.” i like this aoc -- good context and analysis


“The problems that McDonald’s face apply to every similar employer with a large low-wage workforce … companies that try to hold onto their hourly employees, or feel forced to by the law’s employer mandate, will have to pass these costs onto consumers, in the form of higher prices: a $2 Big Mac will cost $4.”


But a blogger for The New Republic says McDonald’s “mini-med” plans don’t really qualify as insurance, noting the $2,000 cap doesn’t cover much beyond routine check-ups.


“To call that ‘insurance’ is to distort the definition, since these policies would do very little to help people with even moderately serious medical conditions … They may get to keep their McDonald's brand insurance. But they still won't have insurance.”


And a Wall Street Journal analyst says McDonald’s health care problems are just part of Washington’s – quote -- ‘egalitarian’ agenda.


“This is sort of being portrayed as an unintended consequence.  But it’s not.  It’s an intended consequence.  It’s supposed to raise everybody up to minimum standards—y’know standardize all health plans in the country, drive down the top through taxes and other means.  It’s supposed to be egalitarian, and you know, someone in Washington or Baltimore is going to be saying, ‘Well, this is what a health plan looks like.’”


Finally, a writer for Kansas City’s The Pitch offers his own solution to McDonald’s health care dilemma.


“Eliminate the Big Breakfast with Hotcakes, which has 93 percent of our daily recommended fat intake and 94 percent of our daily recommended sodium intake. The overall health care savings should be more than enough to cover the tab for any uptick in health insurance costs.”