Former U.S. senator Scott Brown has released a campaign ad in New Hampshire that attacks incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and President Obama for passing a health care law that includes a mandate on employers.
Obamacare’s employer mandate requires large firms of 50 or more full-time workers to provide health coverage or pay fines.
The White House twice delayed the rule, which will phase in for employers with 100 or more workers in 2015 and take effect for firms of 50-99 employees in 2016.
Republican foes of Obamacare say the mandate is already costing American jobs, as employers freeze hiring to stay below the 50-worker threshold or reduce part-timers’ hours to 29 or below, because the rule defines full-time work as 30 hours per week.
They also say the delays were designed to avoid pain at the ballot box in the 2014 midterms and 2016 presidential election.
“President Obama and Senator Shaheen forced on us a health care system that doesn’t work. It hurt families, took away their options, and next year, it gets worse. Businesses will be mandated to offer coverage, which means higher costs and fewer jobs,” Mr. Brown says in his radio spot.
Later in the ad, he says, “I want to help employers add jobs, with decent pay and annual raises, so families can pay their bills and save for retirement. Sometimes Washington needs to know when to get out of the way.”
Ms. Shaheen, who voted for the Affordable Care Act, has pushed for measures that would ameliorate the law’s more harmful effects.
When the HealthCare.gov website crashed last fall, she pushed for more time for people to sign up. She also urged the White House to let people keep their bare-bones health plans, even if they do not meet Obamacare’s coverage standards.
Mr. Brown is known as the Massachusetts senator who nearly thwarted Obamacare’s passage in 2010, but he has attracted criticism for his wavering stance on repeal in his bid in his new home state of New Hampshire.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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