RUTHFULLY YOURS

Adjunct instructors at colleges are only one of the many groups whose hours were arbitrarily cut as a direct result of ObamaCare.

The ObamaCare mandate defines “full-time” work as averaging 30 hours per week.  Afraid that they would be forced to pay enormous amounts of money to cover health care costs for employees, college administrators created a “new math” scenario where they multiplied the number of credits by three to infer that this equals the number of hours taught per week.  This is inaccurate.  Teaching a 12-credit course load means that one teaches 12 hours per week, not 36.  Thus, to assert that a 12-credit course load equals 36 hours per week is simply incorrect.  In actuality, an instructor teaches 12 hours per week for 15 weeks.

This teaching schedule is the nature of the college arrangement.  It has been going on for eons.  Yet, because of the twisted logic and craven convolutions of ObamaCare, adjunct instructors were punished not once, but twice.  First, they lost classes and had their already low salaries reduced further.  Second, in order to make up the difference, they had to seek out other teaching positions.  Thus, it would have been humorous if it did not highlight the situation to see one state’s group of teachers flocking to another state in order to augment their salaries — sort of like the daily New York ballet of alternate side parking.

There have been other unintended consequences.  For 30 years, a New Jersey program known as the Life Center brought college-level academic classes off-campus to senior citizen students at locations and times convenient to the latter.  The free classes could be used toward college credit and a degree.  Funding helped offer classes to bright and energetic seniors, and these classes were taught by college instructors well-versed in their various disciplines — e.g., drama, art, U.S. history, and literature.  These retired seniors consisted of business people, librarians, homemakers, and engineers — people who sought out these academic settings and brought great insight to the gatherings.

But, once again, because of ObamaCare, instructors who had been teaching these courses for many years were denied the ability to continue teaching because it might exceed the number of designated full-time working hours under the Affordable Care Act.  Thus, recreational centers, YMCAs and YMHAs, and libraries where these classes were held had to reduce or eliminate these events.

Seniors lost this avenue of learning, instructors lost the opportunity to share their expertise, and the various centers lost programming events.  Thus, nothing was gained, but a great deal has been lost.

Quality of life is a term often used in a hospice setting.  But quality of life refers to the general well-being of individuals and of societies and can be used in a wide range of contexts.  Besides wealth and employment, quality of life includes environmental conditions such as education, recreation, leisure time, and a sense of social belonging that leads to gratification and satisfaction.  In a word — happiness.

Recall that “Obamacare puts insurance coverage in decline by 14-to-1 margin.”  Thus, for every one person who has managed to get insurance via ObamaCare, 14 have lost insurance that they were quite satisfied with.

Obama and his misnamed Affordable Care Act are all about reducing, limiting, and destroying the quality of life of Americans.  It is a two-pronged arrangement.  Diminish  access to good-quality medical care and adversely affect the physical well-being of a person.  Slash programs that support the mental and emotional well-being of individuals and create a distressed society. 

There are at least 37 reasons to repeal ObamaCare.  Add the above to the list.