Liberal Small Business Owner, Once an Obamacare Supporter, Now Rips Program Costs: 'It's Gigantically Troublesome to Me

Link Christensen operates Tennessee Awning Co. in Chattanooga, a small business that creates awnings, canopies, tarps, and industrial fabrics.

Among his employees are needle workers, who don't get big salaries — but at least Christensen doesn't farm out their tasks overseas. Plus he offers health insurance to his employees.

In line with that, Christensen — a self-described "left-leaning social activist" — was looking forward to the implementation of Obamacare as it "sounded like a good idea to offer insurance to all the people in the country."

That's what Christensen told a Chattanooga chapter meeting of the National Federation of Independent Businesses this week. He said he figured Obamacare would lead to better health for people like his employees and end practices such as emergency room visits for minor ailments, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports.

Link Christensen (Credit: Tennessee Awning Co. site)

Except Christensen didn't realize how much Obamacare would cost him — now he's terrified about how much it will cost his employees.

"Some of those regulations about what the costs of my employees are going to be are horrendous, and I can't understand the math," he said during the meeting. "Listening to the insurance providers and...webinars on how to figure out what our costs are going to be in this program, it's gigantically troublesome to me."

Not only that, but Christensen says he's sure the people who work for him will totally lose all coverage. Why? Because his currently cost-effective CoverTN program doesn't qualify under Obamacare's rules and will disappear at the end of the year, the Times Free Press says.

CoverTN costs employees and Christensen about $60 each per month, but Obamacare would double that, the Times Free Press says, making it an impossible budget item for those who earn minimal pay.

"It's not going to be any type of bargain for people who work for me," he said. "I'm concerned that my employees and others in that socioeconomic background are going to be left without any coverage because of the requirements of that program."

Also in attendance at the meeting was U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn.; as you might expect, the left-leaning Christensen didn't vote for him.

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) on election night, November 2012 (Credit: AP)

But the two were on the same page Wednesday night.

"As Obamacare devolves and starts to fall apart, what do you get?" Fleischmann said. "This big-government largesse that is involved in Obamacare, my fear is that it's going to devolve into a single-payer system, and we really can't afford to let that happen."

(H/T: Cold Fury)

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