Healthcare bill to negatively impact the housing market

http://www.nahb.org/news_details.aspx?newsID=10157

Just what all the builders need. Now not only is it harder to get a loan, but it'll be a lot more expensive to buy a home.

Makes you wonder how much housing prices would go up if they checked everybody who worked for every subcontractor on the site for a green card.

It won't be only the housing industry...everybody else is going to be wondering "how much is it going to cost me if/when I hire this guy..."

mel_horn wrote: It won't be only the housing industry...everybody else is going to be wondering "how much is it going to cost me if/when I hire this guy..."

If he gets hurt and shows up at the emergency room without money to pay for it, it's going to cost you anyway.

No. No way. This bill is PERFECT and it will ONLY affect the rich. THose bastages. They make too much money anyway.

I don't really see it impacting the housing market, there seems to be no shortage of houses on the market. There seems to be little demand for building new ones.

Not sure what the motivation is behind it, but I suspect it has something to do with what Snowdoggie said. Construction is an inherently dangerous profession.

aircooled wrote: I don't really see it impacting the housing market, there seems to be no shortage of houses on the market. There seems to be little demand for building new ones. Not sure what the motivation is behind it, but I suspect it has something to do with what Snowdoggie said. Construction is an inherently dangerous profession.

Costs for the builder will go up. If the market is soft they may not be able to pass on those costs. Costs at the County Hospital where uninsured workers go will drop. It's a cost shifting measure. If the health care policy the workers end up with includes preventative care, some costs may actually go down.

I'm going with Snowdoggie on this one. Home prices have been kept artificially low.

Using cheap/illeagal labor and stupidly cheap loans (facilitated by federal policy) helped create a bubble doomed to burst. So much for long-term thinking........

Regardless of any impending health-care legislation, all taxpayers will continue to fund the costs of healing the uninsured. It's easier to raise taxes than to address the core issues regarding illegal immigration.

While I agree that this is a cost-shifting measure to a certain extent, more insured employees would normally mean that while the cost goes up for the employer, the cost savings for the hospital will be much greater than what the employers are paying. So in theory this should lead to lower costs for the health insurance (fewer uninsured people = fewer writedowns by the hospital) so unless the saved money mysteriously disappears somewhere, it should mean that the overall cost to the economy is considerably less than it is now.

In practice, I'm not holding my breath.

I'm a liberal, tried and true. Bring on the socialism! kinda stuff...

but this health care bill really blows. I've never supported fining someone because they didn't have insurance. Thats ridiculous.

What happened to public OPTION? Just good ol' gubberment giving the private sector some competition, that's all I wanted.

PHeller wrote: I'm a liberal, tried and true. Bring on the socialism! kinda stuff... but this health care bill really blows. I've never supported fining someone because they didn't have insurance. Thats ridiculous. What happened to public OPTION? Just good ol' gubberment giving the private sector some competition, that's all I wanted.

You might want to talk to Mr. Lieberman about that. You can find his e-mail at the US Senate web site.

I can't figure out why the building industry must furnish healthcare with only 5 workers and the rest of the businesses don't have to until they have 50. Since 3 out of 5 construction workers in Cali are illegals what does that do to the count? I'm betting the count is just about the same all the border states.

And no, new home prices aren't artificially low. In some parts of the country resale properties might be low, but builders have to contend with their hard costs to build a home, which means that unless all the building material providers and workers agree to take a cut the builder can't cut their prices. If the house won't appraise or financing can't be had (a growing issue) then they simply don't build.

Snowdoggie wrote:

mel_horn wrote: It won't be only the housing industry...everybody else is going to be wondering "how much is it going to cost me if/when I hire this guy..."

If he gets hurt and shows up at the emergency room without money to pay for it, it's going to cost you anyway.

They get the care at the emergency room just like they would if they had health insurance. The difference is now we will be buying that person health insurance because they cant afford it. So you have added a giant money sucking industry to that persons already inflated hospital bill. You saved me money how?

MrJoshua wrote:

Snowdoggie wrote:

mel_horn wrote: It won't be only the housing industry...everybody else is going to be wondering "how much is it going to cost me if/when I hire this guy..."

If he gets hurt and shows up at the emergency room without money to pay for it, it's going to cost you anyway.

They get the care at the emergency room just like they would if they had health insurance. The difference is now we will be buying that person health insurance because they cant afford it. So you have added a giant money sucking industry to that persons already inflated hospital bill. You saved me money how?

We won't be buying their health insurance. The employer will be. As for the people who don't work. We have been subsidizing them all along.

As a builder with 30 years experience I can say that it won't hurt builders. Smart builders will work through the loopholes. Builders will be hurt MUCH more by the lack of work than the requirements of insurance.

As a person who currently gets a salary from a company with less than 50 employees in an industry with significantly worse potential health risks than construction (the chemical industry), I say this is crap. What a sham.

As an employee in a dangerous business, I will not be able to get any coverage at all, yet if I work my tail off and can generate any business (while generating jobs for others) for my construction company during the worst economic environment anyone alive has ever experienced , my government is expecting me to foot the build for their meddlesome E36 M3ty legislation which taxes hard working individuals and transfers the benefits to non US citizens.

Capitalism is sure getting a black eye.

The main problem with the homebuilding industry isn't health insurance. It's the fact that most foreign investors would rather buy Chiclets from Nigerians than buy any more mortgage packages from American Investment Bankers.

It's the free market at work.

Snowdoggie wrote: The main problem with the homebuilding industry isn't health insurance. It's the fact that most foreign investors would rather buy Chiclets from Nigerians than buy any more mortgage packages from American Investment Bankers. It's the free market at work.

I'd wager you've never seen the free market at work in your lifetime - I certainly haven't.

I wake up every morning and check the internet to see if I've been legislated out of existence.

SVreX wrote: As a builder with 30 years experience I can say that it won't hurt builders. Smart builders will work through the loopholes. Builders will be hurt MUCH more by the lack of work than the requirements of insurance. As a person who currently gets a salary from a company with less than 50 employees in an industry with significantly worse potential health risks than construction (the chemical industry), I say this is crap. What a sham. As an employee in a dangerous business, I will not be able to get any coverage at all, yet if I work my tail off and can generate any business (while generating jobs for others) for my construction company during the worst economic environment anyone alive has ever experienced , my government is expecting me to foot the build for their meddlesome E36 M3ty legislation which taxes hard working individuals and transfers the benefits to non US citizens. Capitalism is sure getting a black eye.

holy E36 M3! SVreX just said "E36 M3ty"!

Many small contractors don't have 'employees', they have subcontractors: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-1099-contractor.htm They don't have to provide any benefits or insurance for them.

That is correct. Like I said, smart builders will work through the loopholes.

AngryCorvair wrote: holy E36 M3! SVreX just said "E36 M3ty"!

Just for you, cause I know you think it's sexy.

And they are trying to close the sub contractor loop hole and make everyone an employee

What if any is the minimum hours an employee would have to work? Seems like they would just have an employee work just under the minimum.

Joey

carguy123 wrote: And they are trying to close the sub contractor loop hole and make everyone an employee

There are LOTS more loopholes- don't kid yourself. Builders know most of them, I just used that one as an example.

FACT: The more legislation and rules that exist, the more loopholes exist.

More rules to close loopholes will only succeed in creating loopholes.