It also added a wellness program that allows rebates of 15 percent off the employer's share of premium costs if certain conditions are met.
Instead, the company got taxpayer-funded rebates of $34 million off of profits totaling nearly $5 billion.
However, Britain gets an immediate rebate off the top, negotiated in 1984 by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, so it actually sent £14.7 billion, or £283 million a week, in 2014.
But with a long investment horizon, even a 3percentt rebate off a $100 weekly shopping tab compounded at 8percentt over 15 years amounts to about $8,000.
And it's essentially free (for a limited time), priced at $20 and shipping with a $20 rebate off your first Amazon purchase after registering the thing.
"For us, it's a great result," said Pat Lashinsky, chief executive of ZipRealty in Emeryville, Calif., which offers online users rebates of up to 20percentt off standard sales commissions.
A lot of taxpayers will probably use their rebates to pay off debt.
It looks as if Americans used their May rebates to pay off their debts, an action that counts as savings (the savings ratio is a net figure, which deducts net borrowing from the saving figure).
The pathology industry is seeking an urgent meeting with the federal health minister, Sussan Ley, over planned changes to bulk billing, warning that the reduced rebates could kill off small service providers.
In May, when Uncle Sam's Cash for Clunkers giveaway was buoying the auto industry and consumers were using tax rebates to pay off credit cards, sentiment trended toward the worst being over.
