The American people are not deserving of what Obamacare is inflicting on them. It’s not their fault that they believed President Obama when he was running for President and trying to gain public support for the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, and even after it was passed into law. This isn’t anywhere near a “read my lips, no new taxes” moment. This was the Grand Deception.
It was nothing short of a Grand Deception because the administration knew that millions of Americans would be necessarily kicked off their plans because of the ACA as early as July 20, 2010. Yet, he decided to play “community organizer” on the honesty and integrity of the American people, and snooker them into accepting Obamacare on his words and promise.
Americans let the ACA pass was because they believed President Obama when he said, “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. Period.” And “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Period.” Which should tell you that for the most part, Americans were happy with the plans they had. And they didn’t have a watchdog media to warn and tell them what was in the law. There was no groundswell of opinion for up-ending the health insurance and health care industries.
Americans believed him because . . . he was the President. He’s still the President, only now they also know what he, democrat operatives in the party, and the media are capable of.
Sad truth is, with him and his acolytes, the end (even lying) justifies the means.
And this “We’re going to work with the employers to lower premiums by $2,500 per family per year.”
In an effort to get to the meat of the penalty that Obamacare will impose on you, in the unlikely event that it would be possible for you to keep your insurance policy that the government (not you) deems unsatisfactory, below you will find the law as is in the Federal Register.
The penalty for not buying a government approved health insurance policy, or not buying an insurance policy at all, begins now at $95 and increases to $695 per year or 2.5% of your income by 2015, after the next presidential election.
The Joint Tax Committee prepared a summary of Obamacare that includes this discussion of the mandate:
The penalty applies to any period the individual does not maintain minimum essential coverage and is determined monthly. The penalty is assessed through the Code and accounted for as an additional amount of Federal tax owed. However, it is not subject to the enforcement provisions of subtitle F of the Code. The use of liens and seizures otherwise authorized for collection of taxes does not apply to the collection of this penalty. Non-compliance with the personal responsibility requirement to have health coverage is not subject to criminal or civil penalties under the Code and interest does not accrue for failure to pay such assessments in a timely manner.
On page 19 of this 19 page law, you will find this:
b)Special rules. Notwithstanding any other provision of law—
(1)Waiver of criminal penalties.In the case of a failure by a taxpayer to timely pay the shared responsibility payment, the taxpayer is not subject to criminal prosecution or penalty for the failure.
(2)Limitations on liens and levies.
If a taxpayer fails to pay the shared responsibility payment imposed by this section and §§1.5000A–1 through1.5000A–4, the Secretary will not file notice of lien on any property of the taxpayer, or levy on any property of the taxpayer for the failure.
The IRS only has the power to deduct whatever penalty you may incur from your tax refund. The Obama administration knows that poor people look forward to receiving their refund check each year, and don’t mind preying on the poor to take it from them. The poor would be wise to consult with their employer on how to not overpay their taxes by completing a new W-4 form so that they will get the maximum in their paycheck and, not expose themselves to government abuse.
Since the kick-off of the Obamacare website, healthcare.gov, I have been unable to compare my current plan with any of the options in Obamacare. This, after 3 weeks of logging onto the website and going nowhere. Today, after two phone calls and three hours on the phone, I was able to get a price, for all three plans, BUT was not able to find out the details of any of the policies, deductibles, what’s covered, what isn’t. You know, everything one would need to make an informed decision on which plan to buy, or not to buy. Not only did President Obama promise I would be saving $2,500 per in premiums, but he also said I would be able to shop the plans and see whether I could get a better deal in the private market instead of from the government exchange.
I asked the lady exactly what the policy covered and she politely said that the details would be sent to me in the mail in about three weeks. What? Is this Obama’s idea of shopping for an insurance policy? They can tell me how much it cost, but not what’s in it? Does this sound familiar? I’ll bet you a cheesesteak that any private health insurance carrier can quote you a policy and explain the coverage inside of a 10 minute phone call without music-on-hold.
I told the woman that the open enrollment period on my group insurance ends in the third week of November, and that I need to know the coverage details now so I can make an informed decision. All she could tell me was that they would send me the coverage details via snail mail, in three weeks.
Now feature this. For Obamacare to be a “success,” they need to enroll 7 million people. Most of which are young and healthy adults. After wasting three hours of my (and her) time today, and two hours on the phone earlier in the month with other phone bank employees, with this kind of productivity (if you can even call that productivity), how in the hell does anyone think that they’re going to enroll anywhere near the 7 million people needed for Obamacare to survive when they can’t answer basic questions about their “product?” According to the numbers so far, over half of the enrollees are qualifying for and getting on Medicaid. Which means they are government dependents, not policyholders contributing to (wait for it) lowering costs.
If this were a joke, it’d be a good one. Because the purpose (according to its namesake) of Obamacare was to insure everybody, because, aghast, 15% of Americans don’t have a health insurance policy. Set aside for the moment that the federal government has no business being in the health insurance business. In the last few months, more people have had their policies cancelled than have enrolled into Obamacare. So rather than insure everyone, Obamacare is in the process of destroying the private sector health insurance industry, and increasing costs on the 85% of Americans that were happy with their policy in the first place, and still not insuring everybody, all for the promise of helping 15% of Americans. Some of whom don’t have a policy because they didn’t want one. And Obama’s solution is to force everyone to buy one or be fined. This is exactly where the role and relationship between the government and the citizens has been turned upside down.
Obama ‘gives’ you a right, takes your freedom
Not only that, but The White House is attempting to create another ‘right’ for Americans. In addition to your right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, a right to vote, a right to speak, a right to bear arms, etc., they are saying that you have a right to a health insurance policy. And along with this new right to health insurance you get, there’s a “freedom” you lose. That is, what kind of policy and what kind of coverage you want. You don’t decide that any more. Under Obamacare, it is the government, not you, who makes that decision.
Responding to the president misleading Americans about his main selling point of Obamacare “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan, period” not actually being the case, at 4:54 in the video White House spokes-kid Jay Carney said . . .
I take your point, it is correct that substandard plans that don’t provide minimum services that have a lot of fine print that leaves consumers in the lurch often because of annual caps, or lifetime caps, or carve outs for some preexisting conditions, those are no longer allowed because the Affordable Care Act is built on the premise that health care is not a privilege, it is a right and there should be a minimum standard of plans available to Americans around the country. {emphasis added}
Cute how Jay and his boss conflate health care with health insurance. Health insurance isn’t a privilege. It’s a product.
Obamacare has fallen and it can’t get up. It is America’s Albatross to get rid of.
An alternative to government-run health care exists. And it will lower costs, won’t increase the national debt, will offer the consumer more choices, and you won’t have the government getting between you and your doctor. What is this alternative? It is H.R. 2300, the Empowering Patients First Act of 2013. It’s been around for years. In the 111th congress it was called H.R.3400, The Empowering Patients First Act.
Since before the beginning of the Obama administration, the biggest question (asked by everyone but the media) was why should, or how could, it be trusted. And that was coming from Americans.
Now, thanks in no small part to Edward Snowden, America’s allies feel the same way.
Notice how AP writers Julie Pace and Nancy Benac make the story over the politics of it all. How this will hurt the administration, how republicans fell into a controversy with legs, etc.. Well Julie, Nancy, just because Solyndra, Benghazi, Fast and Furious, IRS intimidation of political adversaries, EPA intimidation of political adversaries, and NSA domestic surveillance are not in your reporting doesn’t mean they didn’t happen and are not attached to this administration.
For the AP, it isn’t about how Obamacare (the law) is not doing what it was supposed to do or doing what it was promised to do. And, it isn’t about leaving seniors, and everyone for that matter, in the lurch with cancelled policies, higher premiums and deductibles, and a non-functioning website. Not to mention that there are millions of Americans that aren’t plugged into the Internet in the first place, like seniors, that need a health insurance policy. None of that.
And only now do they admit how wildly unpopular Obamacare is and always has been with most of America. Wouldn’t be surprised if Julie Pace, Chief White House Correspondent at the AP, gets a W-2 from The White House.
All of a week after several weeks of calling House and Senate Republicans hostage takers and terrorists for wanting to save Americans from the terribly flawed Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, six senate Democrats (up for re-election) are strapping on their bomb vests and calling for delay and/or repairing as well. And oh yeah, they’re racists too. The only reason they don’t want it to go into effect is because Obama is Black.
It is instructive to note the emphasis that the media puts on this move. It’s not about the poor people who won’t have insurance, it’s about how it will affect the Democrats politically.
As Democrats began to fret about the political consequences ahead of the 2014 midterm elections, the administration late Wednesday said it was granting what amounts to a six-week filing extension. The March 31 deadline for having insurance became the new deadline for applying for it.
You will recall that the bills that the House proposed a few weeks ago to end the government shutdown were defeated for a lack of six Democrat senators who stood with their party instead of the American people. Today, they’re claiming to be defending the American people.
Hearken back to how the unaffordable Affordable Care Act was promoted with the mandate attached. It was called a “fine” or “penalty” all the way up to the point it went to the Supreme Court. Then, the description of the mandate changed from a penalty to a “tax” you will pay if you did not buy an insurance policy that the government approves of.
That the government does not approve the policies of hundreds of thousands of insured people is the reason insurance companies are notifying their customers that their policy does not meet the “minimum requirements” as proscribed by Obamacare and is being cancelled as of the end of the year. (Barack Obama, “If you like your policy, you can keep your policy.”) Oh never mind.
Which brings me to the mandate, the penalty. The alternative revenue stream that is supposed to make the government exchange insurance policies “affordable.”
Aside from people finding out how expensive their government exchange insurance policy with high deductibles will be, presuming the healthcare.gov website gets fixed, the details of how the penalty is collected is where the program breaks down. Long story short, if you pay taxes already and don’t get a tax refund, and choose not to buy health insurance, you’re home free. If however, you are like many low income people who revel in receiving a tax refund (which is actually you paying more taxes than you owe), and choose not to buy the expensive health insurance, the government will deduct your penalty from your refund. You’ll pay your fair share. (Obama’s words) So where does this end up? Right where Obama intended it to end up. He will try to take Obamacare to its final destination, a single payer system where the private sector health insurance industry becomes extinct and the whole country is on Medicare.
Regardless whether you believe that a single payer system is the goal, that Obamacare is the pathway to a single payer system (like Obama himself has said), you better believe that not only does the mandate have no teeth, but it punishes low income workers while giving everyone else a pass on paying the so-called mandated penalty.
The Joint Tax Committee prepared a summary of Obamacare that includes this discussion of the mandate:
The penalty applies to any period the individual does not maintain minimum essential coverage and is determined monthly. The penalty is assessed through the Code and accounted for as an additional amount of Federal tax owed. However, it is not subject to the enforcement provisions of subtitle F of the Code. The use of liens and seizures otherwise authorized for collection of taxes does not apply to the collection of this penalty. Non-compliance with the personal responsibility requirement to have health coverage is not subject to criminal or civil penalties under the Code and interest does not accrue for failure to pay such assessments in a timely manner.
As I understand it, the only way the IRS can possibly collect the penalty is by withholding your tax refund. No problem: if you arrange your taxes so that you don’t overpay, the penalty can never be collected from you. Some observers who should know better continue to tell young people they should pay the penalty and forgo expensive insurance. No: young people, if they want to follow their self-interest, should forgo expensive insurance and NOT pay the penalty, because it can never be collected from them.
Since Obamacare is, by all accounts, “settled law,” it will be interesting to see the wailing from Democrats to change it when the people who look to them for sustenance find out that the government is dipping into their tax refund while taking nothing from those rich people.
The beauty of this train wreck is that Republicans have nothing, zip, zero, nada, to do with it. They didn’t write it, they didn’t amend it, and they didn’t vote for it. But they do have an alternative that does not increase the debt, will actually work to decrease premiums, doesn’t involve raising taxes or imposing fines on poor people, has no death panels, and, doesn’t put the government between you and your doctor. It’s called H.R. 2300, the Empowering Patients First Act of 2013.
A White House national security staffer gets fired for making unflattering tweets under an alias.
But not former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, DOJ Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer during Operation Fast and Furious, and recently confirmed Labor Secretary Tom Perez during his time as a DOJ Civil Rights Attorney, or the IRS’ Lois Lerner for using private and alias email accounts for conducting government business out of reach of the FOIA. That’s different. What?
What’s different about this is that this lawless administration has one overriding principle. The end justifies the means. But this principle is not unique to the administration. In all fairness, it is a belief shared by most Liberals, Progressives, and the media.
Skirting the law or lying to the folks just doesn’t matter and the media will circle the wagon by not reporting it for what it is. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. You’ll save $2,500 a year on your policy. This will be the most open and transparent administration. The ACA will actually decrease the debt, or I won’t sign it. The list goes on but, you get the idea.
“Oh no”, says Barack. Those pesky bloggers are at it again. In other words, doing the job that the lamestream media just won’t do.
Did you know . . . The Canadian government fired the parent company of CGI Federal, CGI Group, Inc, the prime contractor for the problem-plagued Obamacare health exchange websites, last year for poor performance.
The Canadian firm that was paid $634 million dollars without a bidding process, to build the Obamacare website and other computing services, was fired by Canada for failing to meet three years of deadlines as the developer of Canada’s online medical registry.
Let that sink in for a moment. Now ponder why the Obama administration would give Serge Godin, among Canada’s richest 100 citizens, and his wife, the owners of CGI Group, Inc. over a half billion of taxpayer dollars to a Canadian company that was fired for failing to do the job that Obama expects them to do?
According to Open Secrets, CGI Federal alone has contributed $1,020,000 from 2008 to 2013 to the DNC.
So let the investigations begin. Beginning with this question, is Serge Godin a big-time Obama campaign bundler? And let’s include Nina Freeman in this too, an employee of his, who is involved in distributing the money. And while we’re at it, we better subpoena Toni Townes-Whitley. (see update below)
Update 10/28/2013, the lobbying donations don’t even tell the complete story as to why CGI Federal might get a no bid and open contract. Come to find out that a Princeton University classmate of First Lady Michelle Obama, Toni Townes-Whitley, lives in the neighborhood (Fairfax Station, Va) and is a Senior Vice President at CGI Federal. I can hear the Church Lady now, “Isn’t that special?”
Can anyone count the number of times or the number of years that you’ve heard people running for the office of the President of the United States say how they’re going to cut out the government waste and “reform government?”
One thing I can tell you with confidence is that there is only one candidate that says that AND shows you where the cuts and reforms will occur.
See and hear Mr. Kerry Bowers, candidate for President in the 2016 general election present his plan for government reform. In this video, Mr. Bowers takes off on Nancy Pelosi’s comments on CNN Sept. 23, 2013, where in discussing the national debt, she declared “there’s no more cuts to make.”
See Kerry Bowers’ plan to reform government HERE, item by item.
government approves of.