Healthcare

Job-Killing Lactation Chambers

This isn't a particularly important story, but it did give me an excuse to use that headline.

The co-founder of Staples is very, very upset about "Obamacare," and one of his major gripes is the mythical mandate that all businesses immediately break ground on "lactation chambers."

Tom Stemberg, co-founder of mega-office supply chain Staples is questioning an Obamacare provision that discourages job creation by dictating employers funnel their capital into lactation chambers.

“Do you want [farming retailer] Tractor Supply to open stores or would you rather they take their capital and do what Obamacare and its 2,700 pages dictates – which is to open a lactation chamber at every single store that they have?” he asked.

“I’m big on breastfeeding; my wife breastfed,” Stenberg added. “I’m all for that. I don’t think every retail store in America should have to go to lactation chambers, which is what Obamacare foresees.

Oh how far we've fallen from accusations that the law is unconstitutional. Now we've arrived at "lactation chambers." That sounds diabolical, doesn't it?

We've seen a lot gripes over the years about the Affordable Care Act. Some have been fair. Most haven't. This may be the most ridiculous, however.

As Marie Diamond of ThinkProgress points out, the Affordable Care Act does not "dictate" the creation of "lactation chambers." It simply requires that employers offer a private space to employees for the purposes of breast-feeding.