Papa John’s Obamacare Cost: Five Cents Per Pizza

Papa John’s will have to fork over five cents per pizza to afford health care for its full time employees, according to UPI.

Although Papa John’s International Chief Executive Officer John Schnatter has stated that providing health care for his employees would cost the company 10 to 14 cents per pizza, a recent Forbes study revealed the figure to be around five cents per pie.

Schnatter believes the Obamacare will cost the company around $5 million to $8 million per year. In order to get around providing health care for his full time employees, the CEO intends to reduce hours to avoid any legal obligations.

However, Forbes theorizes that Papa John’s International would only have to raise the price of its pizza pies by around 3.4 to 4.6 cents per pie. Since Schnatter was an opponent of the Affordable Care Act and a fan of GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, many believe the CEO is just being bitter about the loss and is taking things out on his dedicated employees.

“So tired of these rich whining CEO who won’t give employees insurance who help make your business what it is and make them rich,” one Inquisitr reader commented. “I don’t like the taste of their pizzas and NOW I have a very great reason to buy anything from them.”

According to The Huffington Post, Schnatter told shareholders this summer that he intended to raise the price of pizzas at the restaurant if Obamacare was passed.

“I got in a bunch of trouble for this,” he explained to the Naples News. “That’s what you do, is you pass on costs. Unfortunately, I don’t think people know what they’re going to pay for this.”

Papa John’s isn’t the only company to cut employee hours to curb the cost of providing health care to its employees. Darden Restaurants, which owns Red Lobster and Olive Garden, said it was moving some employees to the part time schedule to help reduce the cost of compliance.

Do you think Papa John’s has the right to cut employee hours to battle health care costs? Would you be willing to pay five cents more per pizza if it meant people would receive insurance?