[Former Senator Bob Kerrey and current senatorial candidate] singled out a portion of the plan that says if a company with more than 50 workers stopped offering health coverage it would face a fine of $2,000 per employee.Kerrey is in a tough senate race against Republican Deb Fischer to fill Democrat Ben (of cornhusker kickback fame) Nelson's seat. Kerrey apparently wasn't so opposed to the Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) mandate in 2009:
Questions have been raised about whether companies would stop paying for employees’ insurance and send them to obtain their own coverage from new insurance exchanges.
"I hate the employer mandate," Kerrey said. "I think it’s going to have a counterproductive impact. We don’t have any (insured employee) that costs us less than $7,000 (a year), and the fine’s $2,000. We’ll dump ’em off. We won’t call it dumping, we’ll say ... 'Go get it from the exchange.'"
He said the employer mandate "will accelerate an already breaking-down employer-based system." That portion of the law should be repealed, he said.
Kerrey said that he told U.S. Senator Ben Nelson that "I would support him either way" when Nelson was making his decision on whether or not to vote for the bill in 2009.Kerrey's harsh words for the Obamacare mandate could have something to do with polling showing him 20 points behind Republican opponent Deb Fischer. Fischer pulled off a surprise win in the primary after being endorsed by Sarah Palin.
H/T Byron York
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