Obamacare shutters 10,000 tanning salons that many people depend on for vitamin D

Thursday, August 25, 2016 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: Obamacare, tanning salons, job losses

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(NaturalNews) The longer the Affordable Care Act remains the law of the land, the more damage it does to the U.S. economy, and the more negative impact it has on the lives of Americans. That is especially true when it comes to Obamacare's impact on employment.

In fact, entire industries are being hampered by the massive, overly bureaucratic law – in part because of its compliance costs, and in part because of the new taxes it imposes. Count the tanning industry among those.

Around the country business owners are complaining about the 10 percent tax on tanning contained in the law, which has since forced the closure of 10,000 of the approximately 18,000 tanning salons in the United States, The Associated Press reports. This means that not only have scores of business owners lost money and employees jobs, but the law isn't bringing in the tax revenue anticipated to help offset some of the costs of subsidizing low-income Americans who have obtained insurance coverage through the various (and failing) Obamacare exchanges.

Defenders of Obamacare say that owners and the industry are overstating the effects of the "tan tax," arguing that tanning salons – which have been panned by critics, but which are actually valued sources of vitamin D, necessary for the maintenance of bone density and health – are suffering from public health warnings about so-called dangers of tanning. Also, they claim the industry is being hurt by laws in dozens of states that restrict the use of salons by minors.

While those may have contributed to the demise of the tanning salon, owners – who know better than "analysts" and "experts" because they get up every day and try to run their businesses – are increasingly blaming Obamacare because of its onerous taxing requirements. For their part, Republicans have again vowed to repeal the law if GOP nominee Donald J. Trump wins in November and his party holds both chambers of Congress.

Scores of jobs lost thanks to this onerous law

"When I go to vote, I'm supporting candidates who are pro-business and who want less government involvement, less government regulation," Chris Sternberg, senior vice president of Sun Tan City, a Louisville, Kentucky-based chain with nearly 300 salons in 22 states, told The AP.

For him, the election has come down to a matter of the economics of Obamacare, albeit in a different fashion.

Obamacare advocates say that the tan tax was meant to discourage a practice that many say increases the risk of skin cancer, even though studies show the benefits of tanning on increased vitamin D levels and treatment of some medical conditions like Crohn's disease.

But the real reason the tax was included was to raise funds to help pay for the escalating costs of insuring more of the nation's previously uninsured. Congressional experts predicted the tax would raise some $2.7 billion annually for that purpose, but the industry says just a fraction of that amount has been raised, largely due to the fact that more than half of tanning salons have now closed. In all, industry experts say the Obamacare tax has been directly responsible for the loss of 81,000 tanning jobs.

Even Hillary Clinton admits Obamacare kills full-time employment

Kim Arnold, a salon owner in upstate New York, told The AP that she and her husband were forced to close their third Tropical Tann location a year ago due to the tax.

"Customers would say, 'I'm not paying that,'" she said. "I'd have people walk right out the door."

The tanning industry is not the only one shedding jobs, thanks to Obamacare. In June, an economist with Goldman Sachs who has been monitoring the law's effects on employment for years was adamant it has wreaked havoc on employment.

The economist, Alec Philips, wrote in a research note that Obamacare is "at least moderately" responsible for a major boost in part-time employment, due to the law's requirements that companies with more than 50 employees provide them with health insurance. How pricey insurance has gotten under the law has led more than a few companies to trim full-time employment to remain under the 50-employee level. Even Obamacare backer Hillary Clinton admits it.

Sources:

WeeklyStandard.com

FoxNews.com

Science.NaturalNews.com