Florida Restaurants Add Obamacare Fee

When customers at the Florida restaurant chain Gator’s Dockside get their tab they might find an unexpected deduction—a 1% Obamacare surcharge.

Signs outside the restaurants warn:

The costs associated with ACA compliance could ultimately close our doors. Instead of raising prices on our products to generate the additional revenue needed to cover the costs of ACA compliance, certain Gator's Dockside locations have implemented a 1% surcharge on all food and beverage purchases only.

The company implemented the fee in preparation for Obamacare’s 2016 employer mandate (which has already been delayed twice). Under the mandate employers with more than 50 full-time workers must provide Obamacare for their employees. Ignoring the mandate results in a penalty of $2,000 for each uninsured employee.

Obamacare also cut the hours an individual can work as a part-time employee. Prior to the legislation, up to 34 hours a week was considered part-time. Now, anyone with at least 30 hours will be considered a full-time employee.

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Gator’s Group is simply trying to keep the employees that they have worked hard to train, Director of Operations Sandra Clark explained. It will cost the company an estimated $500,000 a year to comply. The surcharge could pick up around $160,000, Clark surmised.

This is surcharge is merely one more example of the burden Obamacare has placed on thousands of individuals across the United States.