We're from the government and we're here to help you with your health insurance.

August 2014 has some portentous numbers for the advocates of the PPACA (manufacturing sector survey, Philly Fed);

Special Questions (August 2014)*

1. How, if at all, are you changing (or have you changed) any of the following because of the effects the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is having on your business?

	Lower %	Higher %	No change %
The number of workers we employ (including full time and part time) is..	18.2	3.0	78.8
The proportion of workers who are part time is...	1.5	18.2	80.3
The amount of work we outsource to other firms is...	3.0	13.7	83.3
Our wage and salary compensation per worker is...	15.1	16.7	68.2
Prices we charge to our customers are...	0.0	28.8	71.2

We note the increases in part-time employment, outsourced work and prices charged to customers. Also that six times as many decreased their workforces as increased them. Then the question is, How did your business change its health insurance coverage;

We do not offer health insurance and don’t plan to.	0.0%
We are keeping our plan unchanged.	40.9%
We are dropping health insurance.	3.0%
We are planning to offer coverage for the first time.	0.0%
We made (or are making) modifications.	51.5%

'Made' or 'are making' modifications outweighing unchanged, above. And of those modifications;

	Lower %	Higher %	No change %
The proportion of our employees covered is...	14.7	17.6	67.6
Our employee contribution to premiums is...	2.9	88.2	8.8
Deductibles are...	0	91.2	8.8
Out-of-pocket maximums are...	2.9	76.5	20.6
Copays are...	2.9	64.7	32.4
The range of medical coverage is...	41.2	2.9	55.9
The size/breadth of the network is...	26.5	0	73.5

A whopping 88% have had to increase their employees contribution to their premiums, 91% have higher deductibles, and co-pays and out of pocket maximums are both similarly up drastically.