Affordable Care Act
By Definition and what "they" say it is
In March 2010, President Obama signed comprehensive health reform, the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), into law. The law makes
preventive care—including family planning and related services—more accessible
and affordable for many Americans. While some provisions of the law have
already taken effect, many more provisions will be implemented in the coming
years.
ObamaCare
What it really does (and they don't want to tell you)
The part of the law that is the least popular — the individual mandate — has
now been declared a tax.
That’s double jeopardy for the president: The unpopular mandate stands, and
it is called a tax. (And this is only one of the 20 new and higher taxes in the law.) Either the president admits
it’s a tax as a way of keeping the law on the books, or he says that the Supreme
Court is wrong, that it’s not a tax, in which case his law would be invalid.
It’s important to note that the Court did not “uphold Obamacare.” Two
specific provisions were being challenged before the Court — the individual
mandate and the Medicaid expansion. If either had been struck, then the Court
could have decided whether or not to take down the whole law.
Instead, it reached a very narrow decision. The individual mandate is valid
as a tax, says the Court. Now, otherwise free citizens will be required to spend
our own personal, after-tax money to purchase an expensive private product —
$20,000 a year for an average family — or pay a tax. And the Court said
the federal government can tell states to dramatically expand their Medicaid
programs but that they can’t be coerced with the threat of losing all of their
federal Medicaid money if they refuse.
So let’s get ready for the debate. About seven in ten Americans had told
pollsters they wanted the Supreme Court to strike down all or part of the health
overhaul law. Since it didn’t do that, we all must be armed with the facts as
the battles continue at least into November so the voters can issue the final
verdict.
Here’s a quick checklist of the ten worst things in the law — in addition to
the individual and Medicaid mandates:
1. Employer mandate. Most companies will have to provide and pay for
expensive government-determined health insurance for their employees or face
federal fines.
2. Anti-conscience mandate. Religious organizations will be required
to provide free sterilization, contraceptives, and abortion-inducing drugs to
their employees, even if it violates their religious beliefs.
3. New and higher taxes.The law contains at least 20 new taxes
totaling $500 billion that will hit medical innovators, health insurance, and
even the sale of your home.
4. The Independent Payment Advisory Board. IPAB will still stand,
with its rationing power over Medicare.
5. State exchanges. States will be compelled to set up vast new
bureaucracies to check into our finances and families so they can hand out
generous taxpayer subsidies for health insurance to families earning up to
$90,000 a year.
6. Medicare payment cuts. $575 billion in payment reductions to
Medicare providers and Medicare Advantage plans will cause more and more
physicians to stop seeing Medicare patients, exacerbating access problems.
7. Higher health-care costs. The Kaiser Family Foundation says the
average price of a family policy has risen by $2,200 during the Obama
administration. The president promised premiums would be $2,500 lower by this
year. Hospitals, doctors, businesses, and consumers all expect their taxes and
health costs to rise under Obamacare.
8. Government control over doctor decisions.Value-based payments,
quality reporting requirements, and government comparative-effectiveness boards
will dictate how doctors practice medicine. Nearly half of all physicians are
seriously considering leaving practice, leading to a severe doctor shortage.
9. Huge deficits. The CBO has raised its cost estimate for the law
to $1.76 trillion over ten years, but that is only the opening bid as more and
more people lose their job-based coverage and flood into taxpayer-subsidized
insurance. At this rate, the cost will be $2 trillion, not the less than $1
trillion the president promised.
10. 159 new boards, agencies, and programs: The Obama administration
will work quickly to set up as many of the law’s new bureaucracies as fast as it
can so they can take root before the election.
now been declared a tax.
That’s double jeopardy for the president: The unpopular mandate stands, and
it is called a tax. (And this is only one of the 20 new and higher taxes in the law.) Either the president admits
it’s a tax as a way of keeping the law on the books, or he says that the Supreme
Court is wrong, that it’s not a tax, in which case his law would be invalid.
It’s important to note that the Court did not “uphold Obamacare.” Two
specific provisions were being challenged before the Court — the individual
mandate and the Medicaid expansion. If either had been struck, then the Court
could have decided whether or not to take down the whole law.
Instead, it reached a very narrow decision. The individual mandate is valid
as a tax, says the Court. Now, otherwise free citizens will be required to spend
our own personal, after-tax money to purchase an expensive private product —
$20,000 a year for an average family — or pay a tax. And the Court said
the federal government can tell states to dramatically expand their Medicaid
programs but that they can’t be coerced with the threat of losing all of their
federal Medicaid money if they refuse.
So let’s get ready for the debate. About seven in ten Americans had told
pollsters they wanted the Supreme Court to strike down all or part of the health
overhaul law. Since it didn’t do that, we all must be armed with the facts as
the battles continue at least into November so the voters can issue the final
verdict.
Here’s a quick checklist of the ten worst things in the law — in addition to
the individual and Medicaid mandates:
1. Employer mandate. Most companies will have to provide and pay for
expensive government-determined health insurance for their employees or face
federal fines.
2. Anti-conscience mandate. Religious organizations will be required
to provide free sterilization, contraceptives, and abortion-inducing drugs to
their employees, even if it violates their religious beliefs.
3. New and higher taxes.The law contains at least 20 new taxes
totaling $500 billion that will hit medical innovators, health insurance, and
even the sale of your home.
4. The Independent Payment Advisory Board. IPAB will still stand,
with its rationing power over Medicare.
5. State exchanges. States will be compelled to set up vast new
bureaucracies to check into our finances and families so they can hand out
generous taxpayer subsidies for health insurance to families earning up to
$90,000 a year.
6. Medicare payment cuts. $575 billion in payment reductions to
Medicare providers and Medicare Advantage plans will cause more and more
physicians to stop seeing Medicare patients, exacerbating access problems.
7. Higher health-care costs. The Kaiser Family Foundation says the
average price of a family policy has risen by $2,200 during the Obama
administration. The president promised premiums would be $2,500 lower by this
year. Hospitals, doctors, businesses, and consumers all expect their taxes and
health costs to rise under Obamacare.
8. Government control over doctor decisions.Value-based payments,
quality reporting requirements, and government comparative-effectiveness boards
will dictate how doctors practice medicine. Nearly half of all physicians are
seriously considering leaving practice, leading to a severe doctor shortage.
9. Huge deficits. The CBO has raised its cost estimate for the law
to $1.76 trillion over ten years, but that is only the opening bid as more and
more people lose their job-based coverage and flood into taxpayer-subsidized
insurance. At this rate, the cost will be $2 trillion, not the less than $1
trillion the president promised.
10. 159 new boards, agencies, and programs: The Obama administration
will work quickly to set up as many of the law’s new bureaucracies as fast as it
can so they can take root before the election.