SENATE DEMOCRAT SAYS OBAMA SUPPORTS A 37 PERCENT MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE   

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the Senate Majority Whip, said President Obama will support at least a $2.75 hourly increase in the minimum wage, a 36.6 percent hike from the current $7.25 an hour, The Hill reported Thursday. Employers would have to raise prices, economize in other areas, or pay less in dividends if a stock company, reduce raises, fire employees and use their would-be salaries to pay the 36.6 percent increase, or find other ways to find the cash and the increased taxes that would go with it, such as Social Security and Medicare.

The Hill said Durbin left a Democratic caucus lunch meeting with White House economic adviser Jason Furman to say Obama is "on board" with the push for a $10.10 minimum wage. "The explanation here suggested that he would be very supportive of $10," Durbin said. President Obama had called for a $9 federal minimum wage in his State of the Union address but had not publicly endorsed a bill by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, to bring the $7.25 minimum to $10.10, The Hill reported.

"We are all kind of in the $10 range. Virtually all of us," Durbin said of the Democratic Caucus. "It's long overdue, it's an important economic issue." Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., denied that Democrats are trying to distract from the failures of the ObamaCare website. "We are trying to deal with important economic issues that help us with economic growth," he said. So far there are no signs House leaders are willing to take up the issue.

Massachusetts Governor Patrick says minimum-insurance holders are 'free-riders'  

U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Hackbarth 11/6) " In a speech before a group of Obamacare supporters in Washington, D.C., Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick went on the attack in defending President Obama's broken promise: 'If you like your plan, you can keep your plan'. From Politico: He described the people receiving those bare-bones insurance plans as 'free-riders,' whose health care costs are often foisted on the rest of the country when they can't afford their out-of-pocket costs. 'Without real insurance that's there when you need it, you just become another so-called free rider', he said.

"In Boston last week, President Obama took a similar line when he brushed off the concerns of those getting cancelation letters, saying those health insurance plans were 'substandard', because they didn't offer the benefits mandated under the health care law. He said that consumers would be getting better coverage (but at a higher cost).

"This attitude didn't sit well with Dave Hamilton, writer and publisher of MacObserver.com, an Apple news website, who wrote on his personal blog: 'Yesterday, Mr. Obama called the type of health insurance plan that has served my family for 10+ years 'substandard'. This type of plan has served us through the birth of a child, several sets of broken bones, major invasive surgery and related hospitalization, a concussion, Lyme disease, Bell's Palsy, and all manner of everyday maladies that happen to a growing family'.

"Neither Gov. Patrick nor Obamacare administrators at the Department of Health and Human Services know about the unique circumstances of every American, yet they have no problem fitting everyone's health insurance needs into a one-size-fits-all box. It's no wonder public opinion for the health care law continues to be underwater. Instead of mandates and new taxes that limit choices and raise costs, we need real reforms that that allow greater flexibility and empower consumers to find a health insurance plan that is right for them. And we shouldn't be slamming people for being responsible."

Obamacare hits employer-provided insurance with 'Cadillac' tax

CBSNews (Condon 11/7) "Millions of Americans are being informed they're being dropped from their insurance plans because the plans don't meet minimum Obamacare standards, but President Obama so far has stood by his promise that 'if you have insurance that you like, then you will be able to keep that insurance.' Yet in the years to come, some workers with employer-provided benefits will see their benefits scaled back because of an Obamacare tax. That portion of the law - known as the 'Cadillac tax' - isn't set to take effect until 2018, but it's already influencing the benefits packages that employers offer.

"Every employer plan since the passage of the health care law has been working to make sure their health care cost trends keep their plans under the 'Cadillac tax',' Steve Wojcik of the National Business Group on Health, a nonprofit that represents large employers, told CBSNews.com. That said, Wojcik added, the 'Cadillac tax' is 'bringing more immediacy' to the issue, prompting employers to scale back plans they wouldn't otherwise, 'with the 2018 deadline looming'.

"In 2018, the rule will impose a 40 percent excise tax on employee benefits exceeding $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families. In 2013, the average employer-sponsored (plan) for individuals cost $5,884 and the average family plan cost $16,351."

(Editor's Note: The U.S. House was not in session this week. Both the House and Senate return to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.)