From kicking millions off of their health insurance, to causing mass layoffs throughout Ohio and the nation, Obamacare is a nightmare. And now it’s hitting home with the folks that protect our communities:
Chief Scott Hildenbrand worries the Affordable Care Act could devastate volunteer fire and ambulance departments like the one he runs in Hambden Township.
Hildenbrand, who is president of the Geauga County Fire Chiefs’ Association, fears the new law’s employer mandate will force volunteer fire and ambulance squads nationwide to provide health insurance to their volunteers or block them from working 30 hours a week – the law’s threshold for labeling workers as full-time.
“A lot of times, a guy will work a 24 hour shift,” says Hildenbrand. “If you go by this law, he could only work one shift a week.”
There are thousands upon thousands of communities throughout Ohio and the nation that rely on the kindness of volunteer firefighters. Having grown up in one, and having relatives serve in those honorable roles, I can tell you first hand that their dedication to service is unmatched. But now, Obamacare threatens these community pillars of volunteer service, putting Ohio communities at risk.
- Obamacare doesn’t target city fire departments in this way (though it is causing hour reductions throughout city employment). That’s unfair.
- Obamacare will cause reduction in staff, and other fire operation issues, putting the lives of our citizens in jeopardy. That’s unsafe.
- Obamacare has caused layoffs, hour reductions and is now threatening the very safety of our communities. That hurts us all.
Putting it all together, Obamacare is unfair, unsafe and it hurts us all. If that’s the criteria by which we’re supposed to measure whether a law is unfit, then it’s time for that law to be repealed.
And that’s something that even the most liberal among us can get behind.
