Companies: O.Care is Hurting Our Profit

Companies find all sorts of excuses during earnings season for disappointments, with theweather being an all-time favorite. But some companies are finding a new scapegoat: Obamacare.

Thirty companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500, including United Parcel Service, General Electric and retailer Dollar General, have mentioned the Affordable Care Act during their conference calls since March 1 and all through the first-quarter earnings season, says John Butters, analyst at financial data research firm FactSet. That’s a healthy cross section of companies if you consider that so far, 446 companies in the S&P 500 have reported first-quarter results.

Exactly half the companies that mentioned the Act are in the healthcare industry, where there’s a direct interaction with the new law. But in the other half, companies ranging from many industries discussed the fallout of the Affordable Care Act on their business.

Most of the companies talking about the law did so negatively, pointing out how it either hurts demand for their business or causes costs to increase. “There are legitimate complaints,” says Kip Piper, an independent consultant that advises companies on health-care plans. “The ACA does impose costs and obligations that cost money.”

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