Home » Volunteer firefighters: I think this consequence of Obamacare actually is unintended

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Volunteer firefighters: I think this consequence of Obamacare actually <i>is</i> unintended — 15 Comments

  1. Some people laughed at the notion that the Left were anything but a minor extremist minority that nobody with serious power in the US ever paid attention to.

    Wonder if they are laughing about it now.

  2. Either another waiver or, perhaps, simply a convenient ignoring of the law.

    I’m wondering if Obamacare (oops, sorry. I didn’t mean to use such a racist term), er I mean the “Affordable Healthcare Act” will become like the US highway speed limit of 55. Posted everywhere in the 1970s; but broken by most and randomly enforced.

    Granted Obamacare will do more damage to our country than the lower speed limit ever did.

  3. This is an example of the fractal nature of bureaucratic expansion into the civil space.

    They’re simply replicating on a smaller scale the over-reach that has been established on high.

  4. Correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression that those who spend less than 30 hours a week on the job are under the Obamacare radar- at least as regards that particular organization.

    As I could see the local volunteer fire department building from childhood bedroom, I am not unaware of the existence of VFDs. Based on the experience with my hometown’s VFD, I very much doubt there are many fire volunteers who spend 30 hours a week at the job.

    Once again, the UK’s Daily Mail covers US news that US papers apparently do not cover.

  5. This doesn’t sound right. In my town the volunteer fire company is organized, I believe, like a club or fraternal organization. It is not a part of the town government. Usually, the volunteer departments in a town/township are totally separate organizations – so I don’t see how they could be lumped together. Also, most of our volunteers already have insurance through their regular jobs, I believe.

  6. Tom Murin and Gringo:

    The relevant quote from the article is this, from a letter that Republican Rep. Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania sent to the IRS:

    …how should volunteer time be counted to see if they’re working 30 hours?

    Does it mean when a volunteer is wearing a beeper or carrying a fire department cell phone? Does it include downtime at the station house? Listening to a scanner?

  7. It is interesting that this law is so fraught with intentional abuse that the unintentional kind is an outlier.

  8. The two co-workers that I know that are volunteer firemen work full time at their paying job. I am sure they are nowhere close to thirty hours per week as volunteers. As long as time spent carrying a pager does not count toward the thirty hours.

    If service industry companies and a host of other companies can figure out how to hold hours per employee under thirty hours per week then our volunteer fire departments can also.

  9. I doubt a police state wants volunteers. Too much out of control farm animals running around. Coercion is a better leash to control the masses. That and having neighbors spy on their family and friends.

  10. “And the IRS is running Obamacare…”

    I’ve been calling for the abolition of the IRS for decades. The longer you leave it around, the worse it gets.

  11. I wonder if all these waivers and exemptions and ignoring of black letter law is enough for Roberts to decide ObamaCare is unconstitutional.

    I also wonder if he has had second thoughts on his last decision on ObamaCare.

  12. A hydra can’t be abolished just because people want it. They need a 1. hero and 2. power to do it.

    The US has neither.

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