The Senate health care bill (which, along with the Reconciliation Act, became law) would overhaul the entire health-care sector of the U.S. economy by erecting massive federal controls over private health insurance; dictating the content of insurance benefit-packages and the usage of medical treatments, procedures, and devices; altering the relationship between the federal government and the states; transferring massive regulatory power to the federal government; and restricting Americans’ personal and economic freedom by imposing unprecedented mandates on businesses and individuals, including an individual mandate to buy insurance.
The Senate health-care overhaul (which, along with the Reconciliation Act, became law) contains a stealth “public option,” which has been disguised and given a false identity. Under that legislation, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) would be empowered to offer government-sponsored and effectively government-run (though privately administered) health plans, which would be the only health plans in America permitted to compete on a national or multi-state basis. This advantage, along with partial exemptions from state and federal regulatory standards, enticing opportunities for collusion between OPM and the Department of Health and Human Services, and the strong possibility of government subsidies for the public plan at taxpayer expense, means that these plans wouldn’t be competing with private plans on anything like even terms — and the effect on ordinary Americans’ health care would largely be the same as under a transparent public option.
House passage of the Senate version of ObamaCare means higher health costs, higher deficits, higher taxes, higher premiums, incentives for employers to drop employees’ insurance, incentives for employers to avoid hiring low-income workers, financial penalties for entering into marriage, further expansion of Medicaid and the launching of a new entitlement program, and the ushering in of a culture of statism and dependency in lieu of limited government and liberty.
As ObamaCare stands poised to limit or possibly ban popular high-deductible insurance plans — which are paired with health savings accounts (HSAs) to give patients more control over their own health-care dollars — a new insurance survey shows that the number of Americans enrolled in HSAs has increased ten-fold in just five years and how now eclipsed 10 million.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in an attempt to market ObamaCare to seniors post-passage, has put together a 4-page color brochure touting its supposed benefits. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says the pamphlet – which was mailed to Medicare recipients – is “nothing short of government propaganda paid for by the taxpayer.”
According to a new study, ObamaCare provides disincentives for businesses to hire new workers and provides incentives to invest in capital rather than in labor — since, for example, hiring a 25th worker would cost a business $5,600, in addition to wages and benefits.
It’s unclear which insurance policies will be “grandfathered” against new regulations.
Large firms have a strong incentive to drop coverage under the new health law.
Under Obamacare, getting married would cause couples to lose large amounts in insurance exchange subsidies. Depending on their ages and incomes, married couples would lose up to three-quarters of their exchange subsidies and up $10,425 a year that would be available to couples who simply live together.