Here is a link filled post for those who are bored today. And all about health care. I mentioned the side effects of Obamacare the other day and the list is growing. Added are the problems of Indiana who might have to kill a popular state health care program because of the costs of Obamacare. They also are considering dropping state employee’s health insurance because it will be cheaper for them to pay the fine. A pattern that will surely be duplicated in the private sector. Tanning salon’s are also up in arms because of the additional 10% tax piled on them. Here is the Side effects page again. I am waiting for them to write about the student loan takeover as a side effect. After all, it was in the healthcare bill (did anyone notice?)
Of the ones already there, the best article I saw was this one. It outlines how the new entitlements increase the debt problems of the existing entitlements. It is a great short read that uses big government mistakes during the Bush administration to illustrate its point. Now we are just doubling up on them.
Another side effect that is not really being talked about much is the mass confusion, especially for those who were duped into thinking Obamacare was a great idea. In this article, an agent from eHealthInsurance.com describes the calls they are getting. Really they are the same type of calls that were coming in after the stimulus. “Where do we get the free Obama care…how do I sign up”. These people are finding out the hard way about some of the accounting gimmicks and lies. They are told that it will help low income people, but not until 2014. The same goes for other ‘benefits’ of the legislation.
This all leads to a point that conservatives have been harping on and liberals have been ignoring for the last year. The cost of Obamacare. Remember all those accounting gimmicks used for the CBO’s sake. Well, now is the time for reality to set in. About half of Obamacare was paid for (according to the legislation) by Medicare cuts. These cuts were supposed to happen on April 1st (according to the legislation). But guess what, that did not happen. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services froze these payments at the current level until Congress gets back. The reason is that reducing these payments will force about 20% of Medicare providers out of business (in the next 10 years) according to this same agency. The Medicare providers that will now have to take care of more patients because of this legislation. Genius.
So how will it be paid for then. One, we can just go further and further into debt (as we already are) or we can come up with some cool new tax. Maybe a VAT tax? Personally, I believe the VAT tax was their intention all along. It fits with the European socialist state that Obama adores so much. I mentioned the VAT tax a while back when I picked up on the fact that the White House had hired Ezekiel Emanuel (brother of Rahm Emanuel) as a health care adviser. Dr. Emanuel is an advocate of using the VAT tax to pay for universal healthcare and he is also an advocate of the government rationing care based upon their perceived value to society. Here is a paper he wrote on the subject, and here is an article quoting him on the same topic. He was also appointed by Obama to the rationing board (the one that Obama and others deny exists) that was funded by the original stimulus. As I did in that post, here is the link to the HHS site that announces the $1.1 Billion they received from the Stimulus to fund the board’s objectives. It has pictures of the appointees and everything.
All of this leads to what Obama and like minded liberals really want. A single payer system. (This is one of my favorite links by the way) And the VAT tax could help pay for it. But it will not do anything to fix the problems with these entitlements. It will simply lead us into a world of more government spending, more debt, and fewer liberties. As proven by our European friends.
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That’s a good article at Heritage, so thanks for the link. They’re first rate over there.
I also think you’re right that a VAT tax is coming, and the Democrats planned for it all along.
The reality is that we’ll never balance the budget through taxation, for as Grover Norquist says all this does is increase the appetite for more spending. The only solution is to cut taxes and force spending cuts, and Obama Care is the first thing we need to cut.
Finally, I agree that single payer is what they really want. Obama Care is set up to destroy the insurance companies and thus create a situation where the government will “have” to step in.
yes, the heritage foundation article is a good one. part of me wants to do back flips over at&t having to set aside $1 billion in the 1st quarter. at&t participated with the bush administration in illegal wire taps and data collection. but, i refuse to go there and wish this cost increase on american companies because it will only mean higher prices for consumers. on the subject of answers to our financial malaise, the only answer is tax increases and serious spending cuts. i know conservatives want tax cuts, but the situation has changed. we need higher revenue streams that go along with entitlement savings. until the democrats sign on for entitlement cuts and the republicans sign on for tax increases, we will continue to stand on the edge of the abyss. eventually only a small wind or gentle push will send us over the edge of the cliff. and at that point the dems and reps will have no choice because they will cease to have any credibility nor power. as a matter of fact, the anarchists with pitch forks may just hold party members accountable for their blind commitment to party politics. now that would be interesting.
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