And so it begins!

AT&T takes a billion dollar hit from health care

NEW YORK – AT&T Inc. will take a $1 billion non-cash accounting charge in the first quarter because of the health care overhaul and may cut benefits it offers to current and retired workers.

The charge is the largest disclosed so far. Earlier this week, AK Steel Corp., Caterpillar Inc., Deere & Co. and Valero Energy announced similar accounting charges, saying the health care law that President Barack Obama signed Tuesday will raise their expenses. On Friday, 3M Co. said it will also take a charge of $85 million to $90 million.

All five are smaller than AT&T, and their combined charges are less than half of the $1 billion that AT&T is planning. The $1 billion is a third of AT&T’s most recent quarterly earnings. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the company earned $3 billion on revenue of $30.9 billion.

AT&T said Friday that the charge reflects changes to how Medicare subsidies are taxed. Companies say the health care overhaul will require them to start paying taxes next year on a subsidy they receive for retiree drug coverage.

You might think this is one of those unintended consequences you hear about from massive government debacles. I submit that driving up the cost of providing health care, which in turn causes private organizations to reduce benefits, is exactly what Obama wants.

See, the stage has been set here. The whole plan all along was to set up a real-life single-payer, government-run universal health care system. Obama and his bootlickers weren’t able to sell that one, so they implemented the worst health care bill possible in order to make private-sector-provided health care so unwieldy and expensive (not to mention make it so expensive for the states) that people would eventually beg for the feds to step in and provide a nationwide universal system.

That’s the next step.

AT&T also said Friday that it is looking into changing the health care benefits it offers because of the new law. Analysts say retirees could lose the prescription drug coverage provided by their former employers as a result of the overhaul.

AT&T rival Verizon Communications Inc. was among 10 companies that sent a letter to congressional leaders in December warning that their costs would increase with the health care changes. Verizon spokesman Peter Thonis said the company had no comment.

Drive up prices, drive people out. When retirees and employees have their benefits cut or dropped, they’re going to turn to the federal government because Americans are suckers for a free lunch. It’s all part of the plan. However…

Also on Friday, Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said they are asking the CEOs of Caterpillar, Verizon, Deere and others to testify at an April 21 House subcommittee hearing on claims that the health care law could hurt their ability to provide health insurance to workers.

This would appear that they’re trying to close the barn door after the horses escaped. It’s all about image, though, and the attention whore Waxman and the hopeless abortion sellout Stupak won’t pass up an opportunity to drag some hapless corporate weenies in and yell at them from their raised platforms and drag their names and their companies through the mud in order to make them look like heartless, greedy bastards for trying to make a profit.

It’s all so transparently cynical. Why there are still people who think the government is on their side is beyond understanding. We’re completely hosed.