Florida Hospital Workers Get $1,000 Tax-Relief Bonus
Employees of Baptist Health South Florida, the region’s largest non-government employer, are getting a $1,000 one-time employee-appreciation bonus to make up for the payroll tax pinch that kicked in at the start of the New Year, according to the Miami Herald.
According to the report, all hospital workers (with the exception of executives and Baptist-employed physicians) will receive the tax-relief gift and it will cost the company $12 million. The money is intended to make up for the paycheck bite U.S. workers started to feel in January when the Bush tax cuts expired and the full Social Security deduction was reinstated.
Brian Keeley, Baptist’s chief executive, said in a prepared statement: “With the sudden payroll tax increase in early January, everyone’s personal financial situation has been affected. ... Our future is secure because of our people. They are our most important asset, and in this new and uncertain healthcare environment, we are making financially responsible decisions to maintain employment stability and the strength of the organization.”
And on the Obamacare news-watch front, this week U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, (R-Texas), introduced legislation to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act. The bill has 32 Republican co-sponsors.
“I promised the voters of Texas that the first bill I would file as a U.S. Senator would be to repeal every last word of Obamacare, and that's a promise I’m proud to keep,” said Cruz. “Unfortunately, this bill will not pass in the current Congress, but I will continue working hard until we have the votes to repeal Obamacare in its entirety. Obamacare was passed over the strong opposition of the American people, and it has already driven up the cost of health insurance and caused employers to drop their coverage. If it continues to be implemented, it will reduce the quality of healthcare, produce scarcity and rationing, and insert government bureaucrats between patients and their doctors. I will continue to work for Texans to expand coverage through effective free-market reforms and to protect the integrity of the doctor-patient relationship."
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