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| Stillwater, MN |
In August
2014, there was a flap over a .35 cent minimum wage fee charged at a Stillwater,
Minnesota restaurant that went viral nationally and caused quite a furor. It seems that Craig Beemer, owner of the
Oasis Café, figured out that the new minimum wage rate would add an additional expense
of .35 cents per customer ticket. The
itemized receipt read a subtotal of the food items, next line Sales Tax, next
line Minimum Wage Fee .35 cents, and then the Total that became the New Balance
Due.
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| Minimum Wage Fee - Oasis Cafe |
Honesty
doesn’t pay. The screams of greed and national TV uproar reverberated across
the land. He could have increased, say,
fries by a nickel, burgers by a dime and a few others to cover the business
costs of the wage increase but he didn’t, he let his customers know this is
what happened in an honest way. He
spelled it out. He didn’t hide it.
We should
congratulate him for telling the truth and more so, for waking us up to review
all our bills and receipts. Please look
at yours and see what you find. Here is what I found:
Cell Phone Bill. All of a sudden a .99
cent, new charge appeared on my cell bill.
They did indicate what it was for… sending me a paper bill. I reached for my land-line and called
them! They were prepared and offered a
trade to cover that fee. That reminded
me of my regular phone bill. What were
all the fees for?
Land-Line Phone Bill. Down
deep was an “access charge”. In my naiveté,
I had assumed (never do so) that it was something like a fee to access long
distance service elsewhere. Stupid me,
it’s code for… we’re paying for free cell phones and free minutes for those on
certain public assistance programs.
Those that have them, call them “Obama-phones”. Phone companies, please tell the truth; don’t
protect the politicians. Worse yet that
set me off about the Medicare changes, where no one will give you the straight
scoop.
Medicare Insurance Changes
and Premium Deceptions. Most of these occurred for the 2014 calendar year, but please check
if you are on Medicare for 2015 policy changes.
Especially watch for co-payments, new deductibles and co-insurance.
I was and
still am very angry over what happened to my coverage and premiums for 2014. My “premium” went up about $5-$6 a month to
let’s say about $150. This is with one
of the major insurers in Minnesota which shall remain unnamed. A few dollars increase is not a big deal but
Katie, bar the door, as to what they did to the coverage.
I had been
paying top dollar for their best plan to avoid co-pays, deductibles and
co-insurances as much as practicable and really didn’t have any. Now, all of a sudden, deductibles occur and
co-insurance surfaces. My premium only
went up a few dollars but those of us in this top plan are now subject to $3,000
of out of pocket medical expenses not previously contracted for.
In
essence, if an insured had a real bad medical year, they could find themselves
paying not $150 per month but an equivalent $400 a month. To me this is highly deceitful, deceptive and
(if they were in the finance business) materially misrepresentative.
What we
need is a straight, no-spin, completely honest answer from the insurance
company if this is in any way one of the negative effects of the Affordable
Care Act. My experience with the company
leads me to believe they are scared to death of the feds who regulate them and
that you couldn’t get a bona fide answer out of the company.
When I
called to get some explanations of the coverage, at first they gave me some
fancy spin. Later, it became a little
better without the spin. Their changes hurt
the self-employed. The Mom and Pops get
the biz.
Conclusion.
Now, back
to Mr. Beemer. He did us all a favor
laying it out as it is. Regardless of
where any of us stand on the issue, he brought public attention to the cost of
governmental actions no matter what they are.
We all will pay in some form or another for them. Let’s be honest and open. There’s no free lunch at the Oasis or elsewhere. Thank you, Mr. Beemer, we’ll check your menu
out one of these days.
Bob Smith
3rd
GopherStatePolitics.com
