I participated in a Webinar this week that looked at the Affordable Health Care Act and its effects on large and small businesses. After an hour of listening to highly intelligent people who knew the subject exquisitely well (still with some interpretations yet to make), I am no better off. It was the audible equivalent of trying to put a plate of spaghetti into a single strand. Ideas and concepts slipped around with no possibility of putting them together.
Lets understand one thing from the get-go; calling this the Affordable Health Care Act is a typical government attempt to dupe the American public into thinking that this is an acceptable, well-reasoned attempt at containing costs in the health care system going forward, thus giving access to everyone. Its no such thing. That would be Nirvana, but absolutely unattainable.
Inviting 25 million currently uninsured people into a system that already costs an arm and a leg is going to be financially burdensome, indeed. But thats just the tip of the iceberg; the (government) oversight, administration and audit capabilities will now embrace at least three government agencies. The IRS will make sure youre keeping records correctly and will make sure youre interpreting the rules properly. The Health and Human Services department will control the programs, both employer and state-sponsored. The Labor Department will also have their hand in.
You will never see those hidden costs iterated as part of the provision of services; Im willing to bet. Theyll be buried in the crypts of Washington administrators for years to come. I think its President Obama who refers to kicking the can down the road hell be long gone before the Office of Management and Budget stumble across the bills bulging in the basement and our kids are paying off the credit card! Its socialism wearing the cloak of democracy. Democracy isnt based on Robin Hood-like stealing from the rich to give to the poor; thats socialism. Democracy is free and equal representation of the people. Thats providing you cast votes with all the information you need to make an informed decision. It sounds great to say everyone gets healthcare, so long as we realize that we will carry the tax burdens of European countries. In Holland, for instance, almost 60 percent of wages go to provide the Nanny State. Its similar in Sweden and Denmark. I believe this system stunts a work ethic and creativity.
Interpretations and old definitions of the way we measure companies will change to suit the tax gatherers. For instance, if you run a dealership with 42 employees you are a small employer and thus exempt from some (notice I said some) of the new requirements and provisions BUT if your wife runs a small catering company with 9 employees and you happen to share some ownership, then the combination of the two businesses is treated as one and you become a large employer with all the burdens of GE or GM. Except they will be able to afford HR specialists and lawyers to ensure compliance and so on. You, on the other hand, will have to engage expensive tax consultants and labor lawyers and bear the cost before you open the doors in the morning. You will unlikely be aware of the distribution of medical loss ratios back to your employees after you do an audit of insurance payments and costs. Full time employees are those that will have worked more than 30 hours a week (actually its 130 per month) on a regular basis, not 40. I predict that well become a nation of 29ers.
If I tried to regurgitate all I heard on the webinar and I couldnt I would bore you silly and youd understand no more than me, which isnt much. However I suggest you research such terms as insurance exchanges, Medicare surtaxes, flex plans on medical deductibility, taxes on medical devices, taxes embedded in prescription drug charges, minimum essential coverage - enough already but I assure you theres a lot more. Its so complicated that many innocent mistakes will be made.

Winters been hanging on as long as tax season this year. The clocks went forward a couple of weeks ago and daffodils havent even been in full bloom yet. Lets hope that the green that unfolds here soon is retail dollar bills as well as the vernal show that everyone looks forward to after a winter of discontent. It seems like the economy is as fragile as the weather a late frost will kill off any new blooms.
After our spring conference in Las Vegas, the remarketing business seems to be fairly resilient. The wholesale auction business doesnt enjoy the peaks of retail activity, but then it doesnt suffer the troughs quite so badly either. The activity curves are much softer and tend to have a two-month or so lag. As the lag is behind what already happened at retail, then its predictable to a great extent.
The auction industry handled some 14.6 million vehicles last year and is headed for an even better 2013, according to Frank Hackett, the National Auto Auction Associations CEO, following the annual survey of its membership. The members were also responsible for about $1.1 billion in payroll last year and over $4 million handed over to various charities.
You can read this news in other parts of this august publication, but I thought it worth pinpointing some of the highlights. Typically, the wholesale auction business goes about things in a fairly quiet and organized manner. The vehicle redistribution capabilities achieved by less than 400 auctions and related businesses are masterful, indeed. There is still an enormous willingness to invest in its own future growing and changing in a chameleon-like way to blend in with the surrounding requirements of its customers. It may not look too dynamic on any single day, but it acts with greased-wheel efficiency in balancing markets and demands and therefore prices.
As new technologies grow within the industry, then perhaps some of the new talent will think laterally enough to develop stuff that applies to other markets too. I distinctly remember back in the mid-90s that our VP of strategic planning looked at our new Internet sales platforms and said, We could sell anything from here to anywhere in the world That was before eBay or Amazon.
Ironically, that same premise could spell a whole new future for any distribution business, including ours outsiders looking in and licking their lips at hitherto unseen opportunity. That means all the way from retail car sales at least used ones, new cars being somewhat protected by the franchise system to wholesale transactions. Its already happening, to some extent; people get into part of the business and realize that they can grow by attaching new capabilities that exist elsewhere and Voila! they can do something for a fraction of what it has historically cost.
The real judgment is, which to put together to gain the biggest share of market the quickest. Success goes to the fleet here pun not intended. Competition in the auction business is heating up to supply the independent operators with some new, mobile applications that work equally well for the customer and the supplier.
If anyone who attended the above-mentioned conference didnt come away with a sense of foreboding, then they missed about 80 percent of the important meetings, seminars and panel discussions. I, for one, came away with a keen sense of urgency to not only push for changes, but to push for the pace of change.
In the past, our industry has tended to shun newcomers; the original name of the National Auto Auction Association was the National Auction Protection Association. Back in the 50s it was to protect the business from the government and other outsiders who might spoil the efficiencies that the auctions achieved. That mentality still prevails to some extent, and it stunts our growth a submarine needs sonar to see where its going and a periscope is quite handy, too. We need to have an open mind and ears as big as an elephants to listen to the demands from not only todays customers, but their successors too.
If the market warms in the spring, we need to have our frozen fingers open to take advantage of the rise in expenditures as well as the temperatures.