They were doing this long before Obama even ran for president. I remember first hearing about this in the early 2000's
But of course this is a Forbes blog, and who knows what the political slant of the blogger is.
As state-mandated benefits go up, the marginal utility that an employee has to provide to be company asset go up proportionally.
"Forty-one percent of the businesses surveyed have frozen hiring because of the health-care law known as Obamacare. And almost one-fifth—19 percent— answered "yes" when asked if they had "reduced the number of employees you have in your business as a specific result of the Affordable Care Act.""