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Some L.A. eateries add health care fee to diners’ bills
LOS ANGELES >> Some Los Angeles diners are discovering an unfamiliar new item when the bill comes for the truffled lobster Bolognese and for their crunchy Spanish fried chicken and waffles: a 3 percent surcharge for employees’ medical insurance. The charge first appeared at one Los Angeles-area restaurant late last year; by early September more than a dozen mainly high-end eateries followed suit. The added cost has given some diners heartburn and thrust the restaurants’ owners unwillingly into the debate over the Affordable Care Act.
The health care surcharge, the restaurant owners insist, isn’t a political statement, but a way to offer valuable benefits to employees while maintaining their profits, which are slim even at the most successful establishments.
The L.A. restaurants aren’t the first to charge customers to cover health care. After San Francisco implemented a health care mandate in 2008, many restaurants there adopted a charge to cover the cost of health insurance for employees.
Los Angeles Times