For those who don't want to keep waiting to find out what is in the ObamaCare bill & are not inclined to read all 2,700 pages please click on this excellent website prepared by Independent Women's Voice (IWV).
Full disclosure – Carol & I met Heather Higgins, President & CEO of IWV @ the Liberty and Justice for All conference in NYC last June that was cohosted by the Philanthropy Roundtable & DonorsTrust. Heather was one of the speakers @ the conference & the thoroughness of the website is a fitting reflection of the marvelous work she does for America.
The website will take you through four Q&A sections that will not only test your current knowledge of ObamaCare but will furnish the answers to each question. The topics are: 1) how many people are covered, 2) coverage for under-26 year olds, 3) pre-existing conditions & guaranteed insurance, & 4) what's in the law. The homepage will take you through further explanations & excellent references.
Although the website researched & documented many little known features of ObamaCare IWV's main thrust in this endeavor is running the Repeal Pledge – a pledge by politicians to work to repeal ObamaCare every chance they get.
The Repeal Pledge has been signed by the usual handful of incumbents who consistently work for America & are regularly highlighted on RTE – Rand Paul, Ron Paul, Michele Bachmann, Steve King, Jeff Flake, Tom Coburn, Mike Lee, Mike Pence, Tim Huelskamp, Joe Walsh, Marsha Blackburn, Trent Franks, Phil Gingrey, Louie Gohmert, & Ben Quayle. Congressional candidates of a similar mindset seeking office who have signed the pledge include another list of people regularly & favorably highlighted on RTE including Anna Little, Ted Cruz, Richard Mourdock, Josh Mandel, George Allen, & Deb Fischer. These are the type of people we should be helping this election season & the ones shown in red are losing or are in close races. Ben Quayle has already lost his primary. The full list of signers, including Mitt Romney, is on the IWV website.
The establishment Republican leadership – Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy, & Ways & Means Chairman David Camp – has not signed the Repeal Pledge. The IWV website provides a page to contact these people to encourage them to sign.
Now for some of the little known features of ObamaCare that IWV has uncovered – here's five:
1. The ObamaCare requirement for insurance companies to offer health insurance to "children" up to age 26 as part of their parents' insurance coverage has been received very popularly by many people on the face of things – namely it sounds free. In fact this requirement alone has already raised premiums between $150-$450 per year. Total average premium increase for a family of four since the passage of ObamaCare is just under $2,000 per year.
2. Three months after ObamaCare passed into law thirty seven states enacted legal provisions that extended dependent coverage @ least to the age of 26 & many even longer – e.g. – NJ's provision extends coverage for young adults on their parents' policies until age 31. Check your own state. Even if ObamaCare is repealed the state provisions will stand until each state acts to repeal. The costs will continue as indicated above until young adults in their 20s up to 31 in NJ go out on their own – but that's another problem.
3. After full implementation of ObamaCare there will still be over 30 million people uninsured; over 10 million of the people added to coverage will be added through Medicaid. Already more & more doctors are refusing to see Medicaid patients because the government's reimbursement schedules do not even cover the doctors' costs.
4. It was originally expected that 700,000 Americans previously denied insurance coverage because of a pre-existing health condition like cancer, diabetes, or asthma would get coverage under "high risk pools" that are part of a special program created in the new law. So far (over two & one half years) only 78,000 people have applied under this program providing another indication that the complete revamp of America's healthcare system was not justified.
5. The parts of the 2,700 page ObamaCare law that pertains to healthcare coverage is about 60 pages. The rest is devoted to 1) describing 50 new government boards including the 15 unelected member Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAD) who will sit in judgment trying to find savings in Medicare theoretically without affecting coverage or quality – right, 2) detailing the twenty one new or increased taxes (see Grabbing All Of Our Stuff), & 3) specifying 968 new powers for the Secretary of Health & Human Services.
Now the ObamaCare law may have taken another turn during the past few days. The October 14 posting on RTE mentioned that "Oklahoma has filed a new legal challenge re employers being fined in Oklahoma where they – & several other states - do not intend to set up & run their own health insurance exchanges." This idea of the Oklahoma AG is starting to get legs - I read several investigative reports last week that concluded the IRS does not have the authority under ObamaCare to assess penalties against employers in states where the state itself did not set up the specified health insurance exchange. It is estimated that about 30 states will not set up the health insurance exchanges thereby leaving it up to the federal government (Secretary of HHS – Kathleen Sibelius) to do so in accordance with the law. The rub & the Oklahoma AG's claim is that the tax assessments by the IRS are not allowed against employers who do not furnish health insurance to their employees unless the states set up the health insurance exchanges. This interpretation could affect 12 million people including 250,000 in Oklahoma. The deadline for states establishing health insurance exchanges, or not, is November 16. Sixteen states (led by California) & DC have already established health insurance exchanges & seven states (led by Texas) have said they will not establish health insurance exchanges. The stage is set for the next round of legalities.
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