Now on your restaurant bill: Health care fee

Courtesy Gator's Dockside

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -

Several restaurants in a Florida chain are asking customers to help foot the bill for the Affordable Care Act.

Diners at eight Gator's Dockside casual eateries are finding a 1 percent ACA surcharge on their tabs, which comes to 15 cents on a typical $15 lunch tab. Signs on the door and at tables alert diners to the fee, which is also listed separately on the bill.

The Gator Group's full-time hourly employees won't actually receive health insurance until December. But the company said it implemented the surcharge now because of the compliance costs it's facing ahead of the ACA's employer mandate kicking in in 2015.

'The costs associated with ACA compliance could ultimately close our doors,' the sign reads. 'Instead of raising prices on our products to generate the additional revenue needed to cover the costs of ACA compliance, certain Gator's Dockside locations have implemented a 1% surcharge on all food and beverage purchases only.'

The company employs a total of 500 people, with about half working full time. Currently only management receives health benefits, but the restaurant will have to offer coverage to all full-timers once the mandate takes effect. The fee will allow the company to continue offering full-time hours to many workers, according to Sandra Clark, the group's director of operations.

'I'm just trying to keep the employees I have that I've worked hard to train,' Clark said.

In addition to the costs of providing health care, the company hired one additional staffer and a consulting firm to make sure it is complying with the law and to assist in the additional tracking of workers' hours and wages required by the health care law, said Clark.

Clark is not sure how much the company is spending on compliance, but estimates that it will cost $500,000 a year to extend insurance to its full-time hourly restaurant workers. The surcharge may bring in about $160,000 a year, she hopes.

Thirteen other Gator's Dockside restaurants, which are run by a different firm and its franchisees, are not implementing the fee.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, an upscale restaurant is also asking guests to pony up for its employee health care costs.

Since it opened in November, Republique's tab comes with an optional 3 percent surcharge that allows it to employ all of its 80 workers full-time and provide them with health insurance. The fee is explained in a sign and on the menu, and servers explain it to diners without prompting.

The surcharge is not related to the ACA, a restaurant spokeswoman said. The eatery is not subject to the employer mandate until 2016 because it has fewer than 100 workers, but it already offers coverage to its staff.

How are customers reacting to the fee? So far, most people are paying it, she said.

Hip

I don't know what is up with rappers these days! The Game and Kanye are supposed to be cool. They have worked together in the past and all that good stuff. AND YET, that has not stopped Jayceon from opening his mouth about something that probably shouldn't be talked about - that is if you care. But, I'm thinking Game don't. In a recent interview with The BBC, the Compton rapper suggested that he and Kimmie K did something at McDonalds.

Here's what he said as he denounced that he and Khloe were an item:

'Those are just rumours,' he told DJ Charlie Sloth on BBC Radio1Extra. 'It's funny man cos me and Khloe we're cool. People don't know, but I've been knowing Khloe for 12 years - you know what I'm saying? I went and dated Kim for a while. A little short while. Me and Khloe are cool.'

Past romance: The Game, pictured leaving the the BBC Radio One studios on Tuesday, said he once dated Kim Kardashian but denied romancing Khloe

'You done a thing with Kim?' asked Sloth.

'A little bit. A long time ago,' replied the 34-year-old hip hop star, real name Jayceon Terrell Taylor.

'Adult wrestling or adult cuddles?' Sloth persisted.

'You know what it was. We went to McDonalds twice,' said The Game. 'Pulled up in a drive thru.'

When quizzed whether the romance took place before Kim's infamous relationship with Ray-J, The Game claimed not to remember and seemed keen to distance himself from his dating past.

HMMMMMMMM...Honestly, with Kim's track record of brothers, I wouldn't doubt Game wasn't appealing when he was 'hot' in the streets. I'm thinking they did some 'making out' and Game kept it open so that he's not a true slime ball. So, I'm wondering if Kanye will rant about The Game like he rants about journalists, bloggers, paparazzi, Sway, Charlamagne, fashion, and midgets?

We'll see. 'They keep us talking, but if we stop talking about them then they should worry!' -illseed.

Illseed, Out.

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Kim Kardashian Says North West Wears Hand

Posted by February 26, 2014, 9:00 pm * Gabrielle Chung * 1 comments

Though she has been showered with free swag from the likes of Oscar de la Renta and Stella McCartney, Kim Kardashian's 8-month-old daughter, North West, isn't concerned with labels. According to her mother, baby Nori 'has not actually worn anything designer yet.'

'Despite what it looks like on my Instagram, my daughter is not spoiled at all,' she tells People in its March 10 issue, referring to the expensive baby clothes she has received from fashion industry pals. 'Kids get dirty. She'll spit up. She moves around so much. I saw this one cute dress that was $500 and I was like, 'Absolutely not!' I just want her in little onesies or leggings.'

'I've tried to put north in a faux-fur vest, but she hated it. She doesn't mind headbands [that don't] pull her hair,' the new mom explains, describing her daughter's style as 'simple, classic and really chic.'

In fact, the reality star says she's been dressing North in clothes once worn by her 20-months-old niece, Penelope Disick.

'Kourtney saves everything and gives it to me,' Kardashian adds. 'Comfort is everything.'

Kanye West 'Enjoys Night Out With Rihanna and Drake In Paris' As Kim ...

Kanye West tore himself away from his two favourite ladies last night leaving fiancee Kim Kardashian and daughter North to dine with Kris Jenner in Vienna, instead reportedly choosing to enjoy a night out with rumoured couple Drake and Rihanna in the city of lights Paris.

It was only a matter of hours ago that Kanye, 36, was seen walking around the streets of NYC but it looks as though he quickly darted over to his favourite French city where he was spotted heading for dinner at the Costes Hotel where his pals RiRi and Drake were also said to be enjoying their evening.

Kanye reportedly joins Rihanna and Drake for dinner in Paris (Splash News)

Dressed in a casual cream jumper, light coloured jeans and Timbaland boots, Kanye made his way through the groups of fans who shoved camera phones into his face and headed inside while Drake, who is currently on tour in the city, was also seen at the hotel.

Drake spotted in the back of a car after the dinner (Splash News)

Bajan beauty Rihanna appeared to avoid the hustle and bustle of the paparazzi outside and was said to be dining with the rappers although there are no sightings of her making her way to or leaving the eatery.

Watch Drake and Rihanna's grinding in action here!What was Kim's reaction to attending the Vienna ball?

Speculation has been rife that the 'We Found Love' singer has rekindled her flame with Drake, 27, after joining him in Paris and reportedly enjoying several dates together in recent weeks.

The rumours only increased after she joined him on stage at one of his Paris concerts this week for a performance of their hit 'Take Care' and proceeded to dance provocatively together.

Rihanna, here at Drake's Paris concert, managed to avoid getting papped (KCS Presse/Splash News)

Meanwhile, Kanye's fiancee Kim was not too far away in Austria where she was seen heading to the Wiener Schnitzel Restaurant with her momager Kris Jenner. Missing from the evening out was Kim and Kanye's adorable eight-month-old daughter North who was most likely tucked away at the hotel with a nanny.

Kim, 33, and Kanye are currently in the midst of planning their upcoming nuptials after getting engaged in October and the reality star recently revealed that some may be surprised to find it won't be as extravagant as her last wedding with Kris Humphries in 2011.

Kim headed to dinner with her mother Kris Jenner in Vienna (Splash News)

Describing it as a 'small, intimate wedding,' Kim went on to explain to Ryan Seacrest that she and her beau have split duties on other parts of the celebration.

'There's certain things I'm like, 'I know you're going to hate the seating chart, so I'll take care of this,'' she said, 'and then there's some things that are really important to him. [But] the seating chart is like death.'

North West gets sweet kiss from Kim Kardashian: Nori's adorable baby album

'Cannibal cop cohort' had bag full of torture tools: prosecutor

Christopher Asch and Michael Van Hise are charged with scheming to kidnap, rape, torture and murder women, prosecutors said Thursday during the opening statements at their Manhattan Federal Court trial.

Oscar Is A Health Insurance Startup For Digital Natives

A group of techies and venture capitalists in New York are betting that they can run a health insurer like an Internet startup... and have recruited some of Silicon Valley's biggest names to finance the venture.

Oscar is a new insurance firm that launched in late 2013. CEO Josh Kushner belongs to a prominent New York family and was an early stage investor in Warby Parker and Instagram; cofounder Kevin Nazemi is a Microsoft veteran; cofounder Mario Schlosser is a MIT Media Lab veteran and hedge funder; and CTO Fredrik Nylander is a former Tumblr executive. Peter Thiel's Founder's Fund and Vinod Khosla are investors. It's an unusual pedigree for a health insurer. Plus, while most local offices for more established health insurance firms are a few miles north in Midtown, Oscar is based out of Silicon Alley's iconic Puck Building. There's an open floor plan, Warby Parker's offices are down the way, and Kushner's Thrive Capital is upstairs.

At a media event on February 25, Kushner recounted how he was inspired to start an insurance company after receiving his health insurance bill in the mail and realizing none of it made sense to him. Plus, he sees potential to disrupt the insurance industry in the post-Obamacare world. 'The Affordable Care Act was an opportunity to sell something different than the usual consumer products offered to individuals,' he said. The Affordable Care Act (better known as Obamacare) created a system of state and federal insurance marketplaces which (alongside plenty of website glitches) offer a ton of opportunities for moneymaking in health care. Since there are tens of millions of Americans who now have access to affordable health insurance of their choice, there's a chance for enterprising companies with the agility to navigate government bureaucracy to make money from that opportunity.

Oscar Ad Campaign | Click to expand

Oscar's product seems tailored toward the tech community and, well, young people. Oscar offers a web- and mobile-friendly aesthetic designed to make the insurance experience smoother for plan members, even if their network isn't as robust as the competition. Users are able to consult with doctors for problems like the flu over the phone (Oscar claims conversations take place within an hour of registering online) and the insurer's site offers a good search functionality for specialists. On the Oscar homepage, first care issues listed include pregnancy, depression, asthma, flu shots, back pain, and acne. Searches for specialists in the Oscar network only found in-network doctors in New York City and its suburbs; insurance buyers in, say, Buffalo or Rochester appear to be out of luck. Although Oscar's executives denied it, the young, relatively educated, and urban (or big-city suburban) uninsured appear to be their target market--at least for now.

Kushner, Nazemi, and Schlosser also tout the service's use of data. Much like other insurance providers, Oscar collects metrics on medical professionals for performance reviews--but uses them for customer recommendations as well. Using Oscar's web front end, consumers can see whether individual doctors predominantly treat patients in their twenties or thirties, what language the doctors speak, and other metrics.

In the long term, Oscar is offering the newly-insured under the Affordable Care Act a unique proposition: A health insurer deliberately catering toward digital natives. But the big question remains how scalable Oscar can be, and if it can be replicated outside of New York.

The Game Says He Dated Kim Kardashian, Not Her Sister Khloé

Posted by February 26, 2014, 5:30 pm * Barbara DeFranco * 0 comments

Uh-Oh. I hope Kanye West already knows about this one.

Rapper The Game, he of the many Khloé Kardashian- dating rumors, told London's BBC Radio 1Xtra that he once had a relationship with Khloé's sister Kim Kardashian, butcontinued to deny that he and Khloé are currently dating.

The rapper, whose real name is Jayceon Taylor, made the revelation to the BBC's DJ Charlie Sloth during an interview on Tuesday. 'Those are just rumors,' The Game said with regards to Khloé. 'It's funny man cos me and Khloe we're cool. People don't know, but I've been knowing Khloé for 12 years. You know what I'm saying? I went and dated Kim for a while. A little short while.'

'A little bit. A long time ago,' the 34-year old California native confirmed. It seems that he and Kanye have no beef however. ' Kanye was the homie. He's still the homie. That is his wife. They got a family. I love them. They're great.'

The Game and Khloé have been dodging rumors they're an item for months now. She attended his charity bowling game last month, and they were spotted getting their groove on at Hollywood nightclub Tru two weeks ago.

We anxiously await Kimye's response to this bit of news.