All year long, U.S. employers have warned that President Obama’s government takeover of health care would destroy American jobs and harm our economy.  President Obama’s health care law is not yet a week old, but already we’re seeing the real-life impact that ObamaCare’s job-killing tax hikes and health care costs are having on America’s employers.

By The Numbers: Companies Reeling from ObamaCare’s Job Killing Taxes:

$1,000,000,000: AT&T: “AT&T Inc. will book $1 billion in first-quarter costs related to the health-care law signed this week by President Barack Obama, the most of any U.S. company so far. A change in the tax treatment of Medicare subsidies triggered the non-cash expense, and the company will consider changes to the benefits it offers current and retired workers, Dallas-based AT&T said today in a regulatory filing.” (Bloomberg, 3/26/10)


$150,000,000 to $200,000,000: Medtronic: “The impact of the tax, we estimate, will be roughly $150 to $200 million on Medtronic annually beginning in 2013. We have no immediate plans to eliminate jobs at Medtronic as a result of the device tax or health care reform. We accept our shared fiscal responsibility for coverage expansion, and are very appreciative of our constituent members of Congress from Minnesota and Indiana, in particular, for having significantly tempered the size, distribution and timing of the tax.”  (Release, 3/26/10)


$150,000,000: Deere & Co.: “Farm equipment maker Deere & Co (DE.N) expects after-tax expenses to rise by $150 million this year as a result of the healthcare reform law President Barack Obama signed this week.” (Reuters, 3/25/10)


$100,000,000: Caterpillar: “Caterpillar Inc. lobbied to keep the U.S. from taxing a subsidy on retiree drug benefits. It lost the battle when President Barack Obama signed an almost $1 trillion health-care overhaul into law this week. The world’s largest maker of bulldozers put a price tag on that defeat yesterday: a $100 million charge to earnings.” (Bloomberg, 3/25/10)

 
$90,000,000: 3M: “3M Co. will record a one-time non-cash charge of up to $90 million, or 12 cents a share, in the first quarter as a result of the U.S. health reform signed into law this week, the company said on Friday. The charge reflects lower tax deductions related to retiree drug benefits.” (Reuters, 3/26/10)
 

$15,000,000 to $20,000,000: Valero Energy: “Valero Energy Corp said it expects to take a charge to earnings of between $15 million and $20 million in the first quarter due to the new healthcare legislation, and said it expected further tax costs to be calculated later.” (Reuters, 3/26/10)

Additional Materials:

GOP Leader Alert: Silence! Dems Trying to Bully Employers on ObamaCare's Job-Killing Impact

The Prescription Pad: There’s Aging Gracefully, Then There is This… A Timeline of the Democrats’ Health Care Bill  (Courtesy Ways and Means Republicans)