GEE, OBAMA DIDN'T TELL US ABOUT THIS – AT 7:23 P.M. ET:  The unintended consequences of health-care "reform" are starting to appear.  They're not pleasant, and will further depress the economy.  Consider:

March 26 (Bloomberg) -- 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.

Yeah, somebody pays.  Not much emphasis on that when this monstrosity was shoved through.

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.

We're sure those workers are thrilled.  You know what "changes" means.

AT&T, the biggest U.S. phone company, joins Caterpillar Inc., AK Steel Holding Corp. and 3M Co. in recording non-cash expenses against earnings as a result of the law. Health-care costs may shave as much as $14 billion from U.S. corporate profits, according to an estimate by benefits consulting firm Towers Watson. AT&T employed about 281,000 people as of the end of January.

And they'll be employing fewer to pay for the national order.

“Companies like AT&T, that have large employee bases, are going to have higher health-care costs and, therefore, lower earnings unless they can negotiate something or offer less to their employees,” said Chris Larsen, an analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co. in New York, who rates AT&T shares “overweight” and doesn’t own any himself.

COMMENT:  Welcome to Obamacare.  I hope it covers ulcers.

March 26, 2010