This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Granite School District's reducing employee weekly hours to 29 or fewer to avoid the Affordable Care Act's heath insurance requirement seems part of a national trend ("How's your Utah school district's budget for next year?" Tribune, May 1). Many industries across the country are limiting hours, including the service industry company that employs my daughter.
What will our country look like after companies and state and local governments trim the earnings of millions of employees? Where are we heading? The golden goose (the middle class) will disappear.
Blame is not with employers, nor with President Barack Obama's attempt to do something good. Blame is with the root cause: out-of-control health care costs.
Health care providers remain silent over their good fortune from the ACA requirements. Yet, hard-working citizens are being relegated to part-time jobs. What incentive is there to even try anymore? Will our nation further bulge at its seams with welfare?
The problem of the cost of health care was not addressed in the ACA. The U.S. health care system's motto seems to be: You want to live? Pay.
Kelli Lundgren
Cottonwood Heights