Hotel mogul starts own health care system

Its a right but he worries about a public option, says Mr. Rosen. All fine and good for his employees as long as they use his doctors, follow his regimen and don't get downsized, fired, retired, otherwise let go or he or his heirs change their minds.

So much for the shiboleth of Freedom of Choice and cost that he and his GOP whine about.

I doubt anyone is going to force him to give up his plan although he may choose to especially if the option is cheaper (since it was the private insurance cost of the status quo that brought out his better side in the first place) or he may choose to offer a supplementary health benefit to any public option. But at least his employees will be less reliant on the mogul's whims if they are forced to move on, get too sick or are otherwise subject to the fickle winds of change.

This man is an idiot. The "public plan" he fears so much probably won't even be a part of the final bill anyway. If it is, there's no reason to think his employees would be kicked off his clinic and shoved into a publicly funded insurance plan. Furthermore, the "penalties" he speaks of are being put in the bill to penalize an employer who doesn't offer any coverage or subsidized insurance. This would not apply to him.

CNN: vet your stories, please. There was no disclaimer of this nature after the story. I feel like I'm watching FOX.

Is it really legal to discriminate against a smoker if they don't smoke at work? Where's the ACLU on this one?

Anyone who thinks Harris Rosen is an idiot clearly has not done his homework. He realized that our country's health care system was flawed 18 years ago and DID something about it. A wise government would give this guy a closer look and consider encouraging his system nationally before implementing a new system that would sink America deeper in debt while sacrificing accessibility.

Rosen Hotels has a "non smoker" policy for their employees. However, they conveniently pick and chose who they keep and who they fire based on this employment criteria. I know many smokers (and I can name them) who work at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando on International Drive. They are Managers and on any given day you will find them smoking cigarettes during break times and they have kept their jobs. I have reported 6 of them via email to our HR dept and received confirmation that my email had been received but to this day, those same managers are still employed and nothing has been done about them losing their jobs for being smokers. Not so however for 20 regular employees who were let go for being smokers after they were randomly tested for tobacco and failed. So why not the Managers? I am a former smoker who was told via company policy that I had to quit smoking in order to keep my job and did what Rosen required me to do. So why not the Managers? While I was a smoker, I often took smoke breaks with other employees and managers so I know out of the group I smoked with who quit smoking and who did not. Not only that, but Rosen Hotels does not update their employee records as the Federal law requires them to do. They are violating Immigration laws by allowing foreign nationals continued employment when those employee's work visa's have expired and there is no legal basis for them to be employed by Rosen or any other company or permitted to remain living in the USA. Rosen Hotels needs to be sued for unfair discriminatory employment practices and investigated by ICE for their continued practices of employing illegal aliens whose visa's have expired with no legal right to work in the USA but who Rosen Hotels employs all the same.