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Amy Lynn Smith: Michigan Small Business Offers Competitive Employee Benefits Thanks To The ACA
Ryan Irvin and Amanda Stitt are the kind of small business owners who want to do the right thing for their employees. But they’re also business owners who need to pay attention to the bottom line. Fortunately, they’re able to do both. The Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Marketplace at Healthcare.gov gives businesses with less than 50 employees everything they need to find the right plan for their employees and get them all covered. Last year, Irvin and Stitt — who are married with a baby girl, Amelia — were paying for their own insurance after Stitt transitioned from her previous job to become chief executive officer of Change Media Group. They were also paying the premiums of one full-time employee who purchased her coverage at Healthcare.gov.
But setting up an employer plan through the SHOP Marketplace made a lot more sense, says Irvin. For Amanda, Amelia and myself, we were paying $1,282 in premiums last year. We’ll get to deduct those premiums from our taxes but we won’t get the small business tax credit offered through SHOP. Add on what we were paying for our employee’s coverage and we were paying $1,539 a month. For 2015, with our SHOP plan, we’ll be paying $1,448 a month for our family and that one employee, which is a savings of $100 a month in premiums. Plus, instead of a tax deduction of 25-30% for our premiums we’ll get a 40-50% tax credit to the business for the premiums we pay.
More here
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Employee health insurance, made more affordable thanks to Obamacare. Here's how it's working for one small business: eclectablog.com/2015/02/michig…
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Amy Lynn Smith (@alswrite) February 22, 2015
The Obama Diary 
Thanks NW.
Hello COS!
Congrats on 1st, COS 🙂
NW – Once again, you bring the glorious news of #OBAMACARE intended consequences for all of us to relish!! Thank you!!!
🙂
🙂
So love the title!
Thanks, NW! Congratulations to COS for his speedy entry! The owner of a shop in my neighborhood that I patronize because they treat their employees like family and have great sales on excellent women’s clothing, is a huge Obama supporter and proponent of the ACA. He says it helps him provide good health insurance to his employees.
That’s wonderful, Judith. 🙂
You’re a grade A gem Nerdy, thank you Legend.
And thanks everyone for all the kind words earlier on the day of my colleague’s funeral.
Don’t really have the words right now to describe the sadness of it all, but just when you think life couldn’t possibly be any more cruel – on the day before the funeral, his wife’s father died too. So, two weeks after her baby was baptized in that church, she will have attended the funeral of both her husband and father in the same place.
What can you say?
Virtual hugs to that ‘poor’ woman! May she be strengthened by the love of her children, one or two of whom do not yet understand the losses.
They were skipping around the church, VC, having fun, oblivious to it all. Heartbreaking.
And this is one reason I hope/think they will be a source of comfort and strength to their mom in the months ahead. I think of her as wanting to be strong for *them*, as I hope that others will be *strong* for her as she presses onward. She has had two big blows one on top of the other. One of those times when one can see no rhyme or reason!
In most stages of our life – we are here for the children. They often give us the strength to carry on and the ability to overcome despair. I wish them fair winds and calm seas to the future.
“I wish them fair winds and calm seas to the future.”
Perfect, 99ts.
OMG. I am so sorry, Chiparoo. I hope the wife of your colleague feels the physical and virtual comfort that is being sent to her. I send her love, strength, comfort, and courage as she walks through this darkness, and desperately hope that despite all the loss, there will be joy once again in her life. It might not be today or tomorrow, but I sincerely hope that joy and light is somewhere around the corner for her and her family; and that she is never forgotten but helped every day as she raises her children.
I also send you positive thoughts, Chiparoo, on a very trying and emotionally tasking day.
So, so beautifully said, Nerdy, she was surrounded by a loving family today, her husband’s parents, her mother and grandmother, brothers, sisters, etc, so she will have so much support. I’m not even trying any more to make any sense of it.
Chips, I am so sorry that this poor woman has to endure so much tragedy in so short a time and lose another source of emotional support in her father. I honestly don’t know how I would deal with a double blow like that and sure hope she has other supportive members of her family that can get her through this disastrous time. It must have been difficult for you to find the words to say today and I hope you take the time in your own life to be peaceful.
Thank you Jackie, you’re just so kind. What struck me most about her today was her serenity. I’d guess she’s still in shock, or just drained emotionally, but she just lovingly tended to her children and smiled softly at the tributes to her husband. Her mother-in-law paid a beautiful tribute to her too, you could feel the love, so I know she will have the support she needs to, somehow, get through this.
Chips, I think inner serenity is one of the greatest gifts in life. I’ve tried to achieve it, but it’s hard. I’m glad this young mother can find that place inside of her–it will sustain through the dark.
Chips, my heart goes out to your colleague’s wife and all who know and love her – there are very few of us who will ever be grieving a deceased parent AND spouse at the same time. I hope that the friendship, support and love of her family, friends, acquaintances and others will provide her with the strength and comfort that she needs at this difficult period in her life.
{{Hopefruit}} Yours words x 1,000,000,000
I can’t even fathom that sadness. My heart goes out to this family and you and all your colleagues. LOVE and strength to you.
Chips there are no words….
I will continue to keep her and her family in my thoughts and prayers.
That’s terribly sad. Wishing her the fortitude in this moment of such a loss.
{{Chips}}, It’s so heartbreaking what this women is going through. Losing her husband, who was so young, and than losing her father the day before the funeral. My thoughts and prayers for you, your colleague’s wife, and her family.
Hugs and good wishes for all of you. Life can come down upon you as a torrent sometimes.
Peace, dear Chips. You and your colleague’s family will remain in my thoughts for sometime to come.
Thank you {{{Bob}}}, and thank you all, you’re the best of friends.
Hi Chip….joining in with the TOD family to say how sadden to hear about your colleague. Prayers to the wife, kids and family!
Thank you so, so, so much Marlz.
oh man Chips that’s so sad. that is a huge deep blow to anyone, but a new mother? wow. Heartfelt thoughts and prayers all around.
Oh my goodness, how can this be? I am going right this minute to Light a candle for this woman. I am sure she will need all the Light and Love we can surround her with. How does Life explain this? _/I\_
Good God, how much can one person bear? Aching for all touched by this turn of events.
Oh my goodness that poor woman.
May she find strength and comfort from those around and be lifted up by the love and positive energy being sent from near and far.
I love this video, especially the joy in people’s faces as they discuss progress made in schools and colleges. It’s the same joy you see in the faces of the women above–they are coming together in affirmation and accomplishing something important. We all need to feel that every month of the year.
….
Congrats COS on your Gold ⭐
Awesome ACA Post, NW.
BBL
🙂
A bit of a ‘pick me up’ for anyone who may need it right now.
BEAUTIFUL PHOTO OF OUR LOVEBUG FIRST COUPLE….CERTAINLY OUTSHINES THE SHINNANIGANS PLAYING OUT IN THE CONGRESSIONAL GATHERING OF ————————————–FILL IN THE BLANKS. OUR PRESIDENT WILL STAY ON TOP….BOEHNER AND BOYS ARE ON QUICKSAND!…WE JUST CANNOT GIVE REPUBLICANS AND MEDIA ALOT TO FEED ON!
Sue, our President and FLOTUS were just glowing today. Love is an amazing thing–it opens up possibilities, sustains hope and gives life and beauty to everything. I feel inspired just watching them.
I think Sec. Jewell is another of the Obama Admin’s energizer bunnies
LOVE THE TWEET I SEE ON THE SIDE HERE FROM JOHN LEWIS…THESE THINGS WILL COME OUT IN THE LIGHT…I HAVE FAITH! I KNEW THAT WHEN I FOUGHT TO GET THIS PRESIDENT ELECTED…DAYS LIKE THIS WITH ALL OF THE CONGRESSIONAL CRAP CREATURES ARE NOT GOING TO TURN PBO OVER!…THESE DAYS REMIND ME OF SELMA…AND WE RIDE A HELL OF ALOT HIGHER THAN THAT!
Thats our First Family for ya! rising above the mess. while bibi and boner beat the drums of war, POTUS and FLOTUS are out making a POSITIVE difference in real lives across the world (in this case women/education).
That’s it in a nutshell
BBL…………….TIME TO FX DINNER….:)
It would seem Boehner’s best efforts have had a major fail today. Bibi continues to be seen as a warmonger and Homeland Security is funded. President Obama continues to do the job he was elected to do.
HaHaHa, your comment cracked me up. how many times have we seen this play out over the last 6-8 years? PBO will ALWAYS end up smelling like roses while those losers roll around in each others muck.
Oh yes! TODers you are on fiyah!!!!
99ts, please look at the video on the last thread about helping girls to learn and then please tell me if that’s Julia Girard in the audience. If not, it could be her twin sister. Or am I having hallucinations?
Hi Jackie – do you have a time on the video for me to check – I’ve seen 2 quick audience views so far & don’t see what you have seen – it’s not impossible that she could be there – she is now completely out of public life in Oz.
The camera goes to her a lot when the president is speaking at the end and also when the First Lady is speaking. That’s when I gaped. Their portion of the tape is in the final ten minutes or so.
thanks – I only got to Susan Rice – I’ll go have another look
also – did you see my comment a thread or two back as to why Bibi keeps getting elected? It relates to the Westminster parliament system – folks vote for the party – not the person.
Agree with you – if it’s not her it’s a double – I asked Mr 99 to check & he instantly thought it was her
I would bet that there are a couple of hundred thousand HSD employees who’ll be breaking out the champagne tonight. Bills, mortgages, school fees, food can now be paid for. A responsible country wouldn’t put people through this agony for partisan gain, but being responsible is an alien concept for this Congress.
My son is one of them. He is very relieved.
The GOP – creating real stress for reasons beyond comprehension
I see our old friend Eric Snowden wants to come home.
You mean Edward…..Yes….he looks like he has not seen sunlight since he left here…..
Yes, Edward.
“Home” is surely not the United States, the nation he betrayed. The nation he sold out and bashed at the hand of master manipulators. His 15 minutes are up.
He was manipulated – sadly the “masters” will not pay. Gave up his life for the proverbial 15 minutes.
Did anyone see Ed Rendell ( I love / hate him ) squish Alex Wagner and Glen Thrush like the annoying little bugs that they are today ?
He laughed in both their faces as they tried to make a big deal out of Hillary’s e-mail ” Scandal ” over a policy and rules that were not even in place when she was SOS.
But…..it is no big deal that General Petraeus physically gave PAPER DOCUMENTS that were CLASSIFIED to his mistress…….?????
He is pleading GUILTY to a Federal Felony.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Linda, It is a safe bet that the “E-mail scandal” is a Clintonland plot to get camera and airtime.
Media, naturally, is thrilled to play along
See how many DINOS who have been sitting and waiting suddenly appear to defend this made up garbage.
Yup…it’s a Clinton PR ploy. And once I saw the “Last Word” on MSNBC so eagerly playing, I started being suspicious of who was behind this. Thank you Vicki for seeing thru that farce…
Linda, Ed Rendell criticized PBO when he breathed, but he will fight dragons on behalf of Hillary Clinton. Gotta get that cabinet post, you know.
I know how he is ….but I was really grinning when he squished both of them for that nonsense.
Alex got all indignant about it ….hahaa
And if he wasn’t a general – he could well be looking at jail time
I may have missed this explanation re King v Burwell here before, but then so might others have. It’s only 3:12 mins – check it out.
bibi bombed.
boner bombed.
betrayus bombed.
All in a day’s work.
To tell you the truth amk, its getting boring watching PBO constantly making the Republicans look like fools. Are you not entertained!!! LOL!!!
the same old, the same old. 🙂
🙂 Oldie – but goodie
🙂
LOLOLOLOL!!!!! LL, you are the best!!!!!
Perfect, AMK. All the sturm and strang signifying nothing.
If this is what the lame duck looks like, I will take two. 🙂
Time for some heartstring tugging: http://awritingcorner.com/2015/03/03/im-here-for-the-hugs/
Nice shirt, LL.
Which is why I captioned it “Not the author”. Which, annoyingly, I can’t get to center.
I saw “Not the author” but I disregarded it.
India’s top news media site – nut n yahoo who?
http://www.ndtv.com/
Zip. Nada. Zero. …… COOL!!!!
Hello, Dear Amk. How are you today?
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#soruready2bhelpful? You did promise to discretely show me how to post a ‘no response’ comment And also how to use the comment space judiciously. Remember? This would be a nice quiet time to do so.
Dammit, that’s a huge head!
yeah, but did ya see what she wants? for free too.
er…There’s no need to try to squish me into oblivion! Simply keeping your promise is all that’s really needed. 🙄
Drat!
#urthemeanestwickedestselfishestmostmostmostannoyingtodobotevah
#andidontlikeyoumuchsothere
#gimmebacktheinstruction*i*sharedwithyouyouolemeanie
what instruction? I don’t remember. 🙂
#selectivememoryofcourse
There is a new thread. Jus’ saying.
Don’t worry about that – just pass on the knowledge! Geeeesh!
go, take a look. Geeeeesh!
.
you didn’t, didja? /smh
Just got that far – I’m slow(moving), o-kay?
/plaintively/ Question – why do you always have to give me the long version to things? Why can’t you simply isolate the part I need ….when I ask for it? Sigh/ #willsaythankswheniveusedit i.e. when i’ve figured it out
😀 😀 #mymiddlename
(uh, vc, some of us are watching…)
😀 Close your eyes for a minute or two – trying to negotiate with that meanie!
“nut n yahoo who?”
hahahahahahaha I have never seen it written like that before. lol how apt
Larry Wilmore had Bill de Blasio on last night.
That is who I think should be the next POTUS.
Very much like Our Beloved current POTUS Bill de Blasio is an even tempered entirely decent thoughtful man who can be trusted to move our country towards a better life for most of our country.
Not as stunningly intelligent as PBO—–who could be?—- Mayor de Blasio knows what he is talking about and is not easily shaken or thrown off balance.
Forget “experience” as a qualification. All Harry Reid’s experience didn’t give him the brains not to be a RW pawn today.
Looks familiar…
FLOTUS and some of her girls. As usual, our FLOTUS smiles and I smile too.
https://t.co/qjCQOWA7CY
Chips, NW … my last comment is stuck in spam.
Anyone here with artistic elementary/middle school kids or grandkids? Why not check this out? They have till Friday to upload an entry.
Thanks, Steve Benen! http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/where-congress-excels-manufactured-crises
since January 2011, Congress has excelled in one area: manufacturing avoidable crises. If there’s one thing a GOP majority has guaranteed, it’s that the nation’s legislative branch will careen, over and over again, from one self-imposed crisis to the next.
* April 2011: House Republicans threaten a government shutdown unless Democrats accept GOP demands on spending cuts.
* July 2011: Republicans create the first-ever debt-ceiling crisis, threatening to default on the nation’s debts unless Democrats accept GOP demands on spending cuts.
* September 2011: Republicans threaten another shutdown.
* April 2012: Republicans threaten another shutdown.
* December 2012: Republicans spend months refusing to negotiate in the lead up to the so-called “fiscal cliff.”
* January 2013: Republicans raise the specter of another debt-ceiling crisis.
* September 2013: Republicans threaten another shutdown.
* October 2013: Republicans actually shut down the government.
* February 2014: Republicans raise the specter of another debt-ceiling crisis.
* December 2014: Republicans threaten another shutdown.
* February 2015: Republicans threaten a Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
$174,000/yr for this. Per Idiot.
Nerdy’s new post:
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/03/03/the-president-and-first-ladys-day-12/
While Bibi was bloviating? WH.Gov – Photo of the Day
President Obama Secure Video Teleconference with European Leaders
LOL!!