Companies Fume Over Unnoticed ObamaCare Fee

Firms are lashing out against a fee they will face next year under the new health law: Most big employers will owe $63 for every person they insure, with the money going into a $25 billion fund, reports the Wall Street Journal. That fund, built up over three years, will help insurers—who helped institute the fee—offset costs associated with the most expensive patients. The $63 fee has "caught most employers, if not all employers, by surprise," says an employer advocate.

Some firms are taking a stand against the plan, and a few are seeking exemptions. Opponents argue they shouldn't have to pay into a fund backing plans bought individually that don't necessarily cover their own workers. Boeing, for example, says the fees could cost it $25 million in 2014, and the company asked health secretary Kathleen Sebelius to reduce the cost because Boeing workers' insurance operates outside the fund. The health department turned down the request. Click through for the full story. (More Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act stories.)