On CBS, Cheesecake Factory CEO Warns ObamaCare Will Be ‘Very Costly’
NORAH O’DONNELL: I have a really important question for you: one of the things that’s going to change, of course, in the new year is ObamaCare, or the Affordable Care Act. How do you implement that at Cheesecake Factory, and how will you pay for health care for all of your employees?
DAVID OVERTON, CHEESECAKE FACTORY CEO: Well, that – that’s a big question. We are working on that right now. We – we have been waiting to see what people will do and what’s really happening and what the – the different requirements will be. However, we do cover everyone that works over 25 hours today. So, unlike a lot of businesses, we already are paying a great deal in health care. So, we’re not sure how much more it will be – or how much less – or what exactly we’ll do. So, for us, it won’t be as bad as it will be for others, which it will be very costly.
O’DONNELL: But – but when you say it will be very costly, it will be passed on to who – the customers?
OVERTON: Well, I believe most people will have to do that or cheapen their product-
O’DONNELL: And how much do you think you will have to raise prices in order to pay for health care?
OVERTON: Well, as they say, we don’t know what – we don’t know what it is right now. We don’t know if what we’re actually paying is very, very close – and we won’t have to raise prices. So, we’ll see. I’d love to answer that for you – maybe in a year, I could.
CHARLIE ROSE: Okay. And so, and that point, a year from now, what would we be able to learn from you, you think, because The New Yorker magazine wrote this article saying that you had a lot of things that you could teach – from your experiences with health care.
OVERTON: I think – yeah – I think Doctor [Atul] Gawande. It’s not that I teach. He’s looking at us as a model. He thinks we’re the gold standard of the restaurant business. We do so many things right. We train; we innovate; we cut cost; and we – and we completely change the menu twice a year. And he’s never had a bad meal, and he says, how can we cook a thousand meals a day and get consistency? Wouldn’t that be a great model for the health care industry? So, he’s taking us and not linking us, as much as saying, these guys know what they’re doing. Over the years, they’ve really built a model that works. Why can’t we be more like them?
ROSE: Are you worried about this – ObamaCare – and how you provide the health care?
OVERTON: Not worried yet – and, when I hear the numbers, I might be. But, again, because we spend millions and millions of dollars today on health care, we don’t know exactly how much more we’ll pay. For those businesses that don’t cover their employees, they’ll be in for a very expensive situation.
Read more: https://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2012/12/03/cbs-cheesecake-factory-ceo-warns-obamacare-will-be-very-costly#ixzz2E5JWDOYY
