The Obama administration’s recent challenge to Obamacare’s “workplace wellness” provisions has given Obamacare’s big business backers second thoughts about their support for the highly unpopular health care law.
New lawsuits filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) challenge so-called workplace wellness programs that seek to provide financial incentives for workers who take steps to reduce obesity, smoking, and other lifestyle factors that can may result in costly illnesses, reports Reuters. The EEOC lawsuit contends that employers requiring medical tests may violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. Moreover, “the lawsuits are based on the view that it is no longer voluntary if employees face up to $4,000 in penalties for non-participation, loss of insurance or even their jobs,” reports Reuters.
“The fact that the EEOC sued is shocking to our members,” said Business Roundtable Vice President and counsel Maria Ghazal.
Some big businesses and interest groups are reportedly considering going on record opposing Obamacare. Contrary to conventional thinking, several big businesses and industries backed Obama and Obamacare. Indeed, in 2008, the healthcare industry donated $22,471,562 to Obama, and has posted record profits as a consequence of Obamacare.
The new EEOC challenges to workplace wellness programs threaten to further erode Obamacare’s already anemic levels of public support. According to a recent Gallup poll, a record-low 37 percent of Americans now support Obama’s signature legislative achievement.
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