Ellicott City Restaurant Owner Featured in New York Times Article Health Care Law

Eric King, the owner of the Shanty Grille in Ellicott City, told the New York Times he was thrilled that a provision in the Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare", that mandates businesses with 50 or more employees provide health insurance to their workers will be delayed a year.

The Times article focuses on King, who says it would be difficult for his business to turn a profit if he had to pay health care costs for all his full-time employees.

He said he currently provides health insurance at a cost of $26,000 per year to the restaurant's managers and chefs, the skilled workers who King said "I really want to take care of and retain", according to the article.

However, he told the paper he does not cover health insurance costs for high turnover positions such as servers, busboys, dishwashers, line cooks and hosts, although they can opt into the plan at a cost to them of $4,700 per year.

"Most of my servers are 25 to 30 years old," said King to the Times. "They'd rather take the $200 a month and put it in a bar bill as opposed to insurance."

He said none of his employees had asked him to comply with the law, according to the article.

Abby Goodnough, who wrote the article, reported that one uninsured employee tore a knee ligament playing basketball that cost him thousands of dollars in urgent care bills. The accident prompted a bartender at the restaurant, Vince Ritter, who turns 26 next week, to take a second job with health benefits, wrote Goodnough.

King told the Times that the restaurant is predicted to make about $80,000 in profit this year, but his health care costs would rise to about $62,000 per year under the Affordable Care Act, cutting the business's profits to less than about $45,000 a year.

"If there's no return on investment," said King to the paper, "there's not really a point anymore. I put in 70, 75 hours a week. Is it really worth it?"

King declined to comment on the article when reached by Patch on Wednesday morning.

Read the full article here - "At Restaurant, Delay is Help on Health Law"