An 8-cent health care solution

To the editor:

In his column in the Sept. 7-20 NHBR, Tony Paradiso uses McDonald's as an example of the (implied negative) impact of the health care law on small businesses.

He writes, "McDonald's CFO estimates that the law will add between $10,000 and $30,000 in costs to each of the 14,000 (U.S.) McDonald's restaurants." Using the higher number, that works out to a bit over $80 per day. According to its website, McDonald's serves 47 million customers per day at 33,500 stores worldwide. That's over 1,400 per store, but let's be conservative and assume 1,000. The added health care costs then works out to be 8 cents per customer.

If it costs me an extra 8 cents every time I go to McDonald's so that the folks working behind the counter for near-minimum wage can see a doctor when they're sick, that sounds like an OK deal to me.

Chris Landry
Hudson