This is a joint statement attributable to: William Good, executive vice president of the National Roofing Contractors Association, and Kinsey M. Robinson, international president of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a fatally flawed law that fails to control rising health care costs and contains numerous taxes, fees and mandates that are increasing costs for employers and workers, thus threatening economic growth and job creation in the roofing industry. By mandating expensive minimum benefits and mandating complex new regulatory requirements for many employers, the ACA is increasing costs, driving up health insurance premiums and reducing affordable choices for businesses and workers.
The ACA is threatening to dismantle multi-employer health and welfare funds that provide affordable, high-quality health care to roofing workers and their families by imposing substantially higher costs. The funds’ costs are increasing because of the various benefit mandates and regulatory requirements. Even more damaging is the ACA’s so-called temporary reinsurance tax, which is costing every health and welfare fund $63 per covered life in 2014 alone. The proceeds of this onerous tax will be used to subsidize insurance companies. In effect, the ACA takes money from the pockets of employers and workers covered by health and welfare funds and transfers it to insurance companies, and the worker gets nothing in return. These higher costs put more pressure on roofing construction workers, their employers, and their health and welfare funds. In a competitive roofing market, higher costs generally equate to fewer jobs.
Another concern is the new health insurance tax authorized by the ACA, which will adversely affect workers and employers in all fully insured health plans. This egregious tax is estimated by the Joint Committee on Taxation to cost over $100 billion over 10 years, and this burden falls mostly on small and mid-sized businesses and their workers. One private study estimates this tax could drive up health insurance premiums by over $5,000 for a family of four during the next decade.
The roofing industry will suffer as employers of all sizes, workers, and health and welfare funds experience significantly greater regulatory burden, more government-mandated paperwork and reporting requirements, fewer choices in health care and no mechanism to control costs. We need reform that would truly control rising costs and expand affordable coverage to Americans, but the ACA does not and will not accomplish these goals. The ACA will only serve to increase government regulation, increase taxes and reduce choices for employers and workers in the roofing industry.
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Established in 1886, NRCA is one of the nation’s oldest trade associations and the voice of professional roofing contractors worldwide. NRCA has nearly 4,000 contractors in all 50 states who are typically small, privately held companies, employing an average of 45 people and attaining sales of about 4.5 million per year.
The United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers was formed in 1903 and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. It represents 25,000 highly skilled workers in the commercial and industrial sectors of the roofing industry. The union has business offices and training centers throughout the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii.