Maine Republicans are assailing President Barack Obama’s health care law by saying it amounts to a tax increase. Not only are they wrong, but it appears their memories are a little selective. Their own health insurance overhaul last year, which they will continue to champion on their campaign trails, included a tax.
If Republicans are going to argue against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, they should first make sure they’re not also delegitimizing their own law.
The Republican argument stems from the fact that five justices agreed on Thursday that the penalty people must pay if they refuse to purchase health insurance is a kind of tax. Because Congress has taxing power, the requirement that virtually all Americans buy insurance is constitutional.
But even though the swing vote came from a conservative — Justice John Roberts Jr. — and even though Maine Republicans last year passed a health insurance reform bill, LD 1333, that included a provision to add a $4 charge to the monthly premium of Mainers with private coverage, some in the GOP argue the health care act is wrong because its legality is based on tax law.
“This massive tax hike will only destroy the American economy as it forces us over the financial cliff,” reads a press release from Gov. Paul LePage’s office issued after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Obama’s health care law is constitutional.
Maine Senate President Kevin Raye, who is running for the U.S. House, called it “an unprecedented coercive new tax.” Olympia Snowe, Maine’s retiring Republican senator, said it will “impose an onerous tax.”
The law, however, is not projected to equate to a tax increase for the vast majority of Mainers or Americans. Most people already have insurance through their employers, Medicaid or Medicare. An Urban Institute study found that of the 26.3 million people currently uninsured, about 70 percent of them qualify for tax credits to help them pay for a qualified plan.
Just 7.3 million people, or 2 percent of the population, will not be offered financial assistance under the health care law and will be subject to penalties if they do not obtain coverage. The idea that the health care law amounts to a tax hike for many Americans is simply wrong.
In fact, studies show that the law will lower costs for Americans. The nonprofit Families USA estimates that by 2019 more than 500,000 Maine families will be better off by an average $1,685 per year because of the law.
The misinformation-spreading by Republicans comes on the heels of them actually implementing a health insurance tax. Just a year ago, their health reform law aimed to lower costs for young, healthy Mainers by putting higher-cost policyholders in a special pool and then defraying the costs of their insurance by having a monthly tax of $4 assessed on all other policyholders.
The $4 tax was designed to replace a charge on health insurance claims that Mainers paid to keep the Dirigo Health program in operation. People legitimized it by saying it would be less than the annual Dirigo assessment. But it is still a tax.
No one likes the word “tax,” but Mainers should remember that our state’s transportation infrastructure, schools, police forces and much of our health care system all are possible because of tax dollars. Republicans should gather their facts before they claim the health care law means a tax increase. And if a health insurance tax is bad now, they should explain why it wasn’t bad in 2011.
There goes the BDN (Bangor Democrat News) carrying the water for the Maine Democratic party again. Another classic copy/paste job from a Maine Democratic party press release. Bravo. Ctrl C, Ctrl V is very hard to master.
And this comment relates to the article…….how? Sounds like sour grapes to me. The fact of the matter is; republicans just want to keep it the way that it is: available and affordable to those who, through their own hard work, can pay for it. Apparently low middle class and poor people don’t work hard.
Hey rus, it’ll be the low middle class and poor (along with everyone else) who will have to pay this massive tax hike. It was widely unpopular as a mandate, so do you think now that it has been ruled a tax that suddenly people will swoon over it? Riiiight.
The only ones taxed are 1. those who can afford to buy insurance and chose not to
2. Any individual who earns over $200,000 or couple who earns
over $250,000
What massive tax hike are you talking about? The ‘tax’ everyone is talking about is the penalty for not carrying health insurance. I will not be paying that ‘tax’. If you will, then I am quite happy that the government will be recouping some of the money I spent on you.
In 2014 dozens of taxes kick in addition to :
Employer Mandate Tax(Jan 2014)
Surtax on Investment Income ($123 billion/Jan. 2013): This increase involves the creation of a new, 3.8 percent surtax on investment income
Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans($32 bil/Jan 2018): Your current insurance plan may be taxed.
Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax($86.8 bil/Jan 2013):
Medicine Cabinet Tax($5 bil/Jan 2011): Americans no
longer able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending
account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase
non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin)HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike($1.4 bil/Jan 2011): Increases additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent,Flexible Spending Account Cap – aka“Special Needs Kids Tax”($13
bil/Jan 2013): Imposes cap of $2500 (Indexed to inflation after 2013)
on FSAs (now unlimited). . There is one group of FSA owners for whom
this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special
needs children. There are thousands of families with special needs
children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for
special needs education. Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers($20 bil/Jan 2013):
Medical device manufacturers employ 360,000 people in 6000 plants across
the country. This law imposes a new 2.3% excise tax. Exemptions
include items retailing for less than $100. Raise “Haircut” for Medical Itemized Deduction from 7.5% to 10% of AGI($15.2 bil/Jan 2013):Tax on Indoor Tanning Services($2.7 billion/July 1, 2010): New 10 percent excise taxElimination of tax deduction for employer-provided retirement Rx drug coverage in coordination with Medicare Part D($4.5 bil/Jan 2013)Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tax Hike($0.4 bil/Jan 2010)Excise Tax on Charitable Hospitals(Min$/immediate): $50,000 per hospitalTax on Innovator Drug Companies($22.2 bil/Jan 2010): $2.3 billion annual tax on the industry imposed relative to share of sales made that year.Tax on Health Insurers($60.1 bil/Jan 2014):Employer Reporting of Insurance on W-2(Min$/Jan 2011): Preamble to taxing health benefits on individual tax returns.Black liquor” tax hike(Tax hike of $23.6 billion). This is a tax increase on a type of bio-fuel.If you think you will somehow be exempt from paying these new taxes– you are incorrect. Those that look like they won’t touch you will be passes on as higher costs to consumer.
Of course all those taxes added to businesses will be passed on to the consumer who wants those products/services. Nothing new there. The first 4 are long overdue. Many of the others look reasonable to me. Those tanning beds needs to pay for the skin cancer that they will cause. That will not get passed on to me. The other I would have to research to find the silver lining. But I am thinking there is one for everyone you cited. And, you failed to balance this with the savings that will accrue. It is easy to cry wolf with lists like that, but it is disingenuous of you to do so. CBO long term projection is a significant deficit reduction from the ACA alone. Would like our legislators to develop more reform plans that would do that.
The savings are smoke and mirrors. The savings are in places government savings because the revenue is taken from somewhere else. Its all fuzzy math.
I am not sure how taxing medical devices for instance to gain revenue for the government to use is a savings.
Says you. You want to be able to cite sources when it’s convenient and then ignore them when it’s not.
Leave me alone.
The pressure getting to you?
So whats the point?
Did you expect a free ride or something?
“Job creators” need to be coddled, have their egos pet.
This”massive tax hike” will affect aproximately 1 to 2% of the population who choose not to be insured. 1 to 2% ……
Well, not exactly. They want to keep the profits for themselves. Here is a great summary of what has happened from Forbes: “We lost the positive aspects of affiliation health insurance starting in the 1960s and through the 1980s when Wall Street discovered there was money to be made turning nonprofit health insurers, hospitals and nursing homes into investor-owned companies. What we got was a massive conflict-of-interest–profit vs. public good–that has culminated in a dysfunctional health delivery system that has undermined our economy, reduced our national wealth and torn our social fabric.” But sour grapes, yes. The ACA is very similar to the plan Romney signed into law in Massachusetts and it seems to be working very well there: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2012/01/20/romney-care-massachusetts-healthcare-reform/
That is the saddest rag of a newspaper I have ever seen. Those people have no clue on the cost of doing business in this state. That is why there are so few good paying jobs. You P.O. the people with money and they simply move. Very basic and very true.
Well, there certainly seem to be a lot of small businesses that are doing just fine so they are managing the cost of doing business. Businesses that are well managed thrive. If a business leaves because they want to maximize profits as opposed to live and work in Maine, then they can go. I usually stop buying their products. Burt’s Bees for example.
The idea that taxing someone if they don’t buy something is unprecedented or even unusual is simply false.
If I don’t buy a house and pay a mortgage, I am taxed.
If I don’t give to charity, I am taxed.
If I don’t buy stocks through an IRA, I am taxed.
If I don’t buy mutual funds through a 401k, I’m taxed.
If I don’t buy things that are a cost of doing business, I am taxed.
Now, if I don’t buy health insurance, I am taxed.
And in the case of Obamacare, I know what the tax money goes for. It pays for emergency room style healthcare provided to those who have chosen not to have health insurance.
Seems fair to me.
OBAMACARE, because President Obama cares.
It is a tax, Webby and all it will take is 51 senate votes to put a stake through it. Nothing like reconciliation, baby!
It is the consequence of a choice you make. But I do not want to have to foot the bill for your medical services if you choose not to buy insurance. The government is recouping my loss (at least partially). I say thank you for doing so.
More than 50% of the American people disagree with you.
More than 50% want to pay for those who do not carry health insurance? Really!?!
Cheeseball Statistics!
He try’s but they just never seem to roll. They just stick where they are and then melt away!
if only…
Cheesy numbers!
The simple fact is it will not be cheaper for you. It can’t be. It might look like it but when taxes are raised somewhere else its not a savings its a shift.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/29/new-poll-voters-dislike-supreme-court-s-obamacare-ruling.html
Only 24 percent of those polled said that they believe the ruling will make the country better off.
Well, yes and no to your polling report. This compares different polls and on the surface it looks like you are correct. But if you read further and factor out the more modest 10% figure that disapprove because it did not go far enough then you have more approving. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/26/polls-obamacare-supreme-court-ruling_n_1628561.html and don’t discount the reporting agent. They did their research and used many polling reports.
A great many of the people not happy with the ACA would prefer a public option and single payer.
They want a stronger bill. They do not want to repeal it.
less than 15% of those that oppose what a stronger law.
.15 x 50 = 7.5%
You’re very good and typing numbers, we’re still waiting for you to back up this comment that you made:
“More than 50% of the American people disagree with you.”
Right on! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/26/polls-obamacare-supreme-court-ruling_n_1628561.html Factor out the 10% that disapprove because it did not go far enough and you have more people approving. Interesting how polls work.
Sources?
It’s important not to resort to fallacious thinking on this issue, and listen to Forbes Magazine’s well-thought-out position:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmcquaid/2012/03/27/ignore-the-obamacare-polls/
They’re misinformed, on purpose, by the right wing propaganda machine, which is far more noisy and pervasive than the so called Liberal Media…
There is no recouping of your loss.Even to the government.
For me if the government collects on my behalf my loss has been recouped. I do not need to see it in my bank account. This is not all about me. It is about reforming a broken system.
Only if those tax dollars make it back to the hospitals who need to charge private insurance more to treat the uninsured. Somehow I doubt that will happen…
This is how the CBO expects it to play out…… and penalties play a pretty important role: http://cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/03-13-Coverage%20Estimates.pdf . But I am not at all sure how hospitals will see benefits, though a cousin who is Chief of Pediatrics in her hospital says the law is very, very good on multiple levels.
You’re forgetting the veto, Baby. (If it gets that far.)
Have you noticed that they are already starting to call it the Affordable Care Act instead of Obamacare?
Once people start to realize what is in it , and the benefits of it the GOP will be trying to claim it as their own!
After all it WAS!
They did a simalr with NAFTA.
They tryed to put all the blame on Clinton when it turned out bad!
pfftttt
All the more reason to never let these greedy money grubber republicans ever get into the white house again!
Never –ever–forever!
Well you sure have twisted the facts here. The taxes you listed are not there instead of but other then. You buy a home you pay property tax plus tax on the mortgage itself. If you give to charity you get a tax break. If you buy stock through a IRA your tax is DELAYED until you cash out! Same with the 401k. A for the tax for not buying things for business again this is a tax break for spending money to boost the local economy.
Now to the Omama care. Thsi is the FIRST and ONLY tax every to REQUIRE you to BUY a product form a private company OR pay a fine. There is nothing like it nor is there any president for it.
Of course it seems fair to you. I bet you do not own a business or you woudl not have even tried that load above. Those of us who work and EMPLOY others will be forced to drop insurance we did offer as the fine will be CHEAPER! employers with a little over 50 employees will be dropping to less then so they also can drop insurance and pay the cheaper fine. All those folks will not be on there OWN to pay out of pocket for insurance OR the penalty. This is the FACT of this system. Any person who owns a business and have read the relevant portions of the bill can tell you this.
Wait 10 years if this bill is not undone and tell me then how much better you are.
1) The U S Supreme Court says it’s a tax. It is a penalty like the penalty I pay for not having a mortgage and not getting an interest tax deduction. Or like the penalty (higher taxes) paid by those who don’t invest in retirement plans. The government encourages us to do certain things by tax incentives. It encourages us to borrow for a house. It encourages us to save for retirement. Now it is encouraging us to buy health insurance.
2) I do own a business. My main competitors are Canadian companies. If I don’t provide health insurance to employees, they will go to work for my competitors in Canada where health coverage is universal and similar to Obamacare. It has been impossible for me to predict health insurance costs from year to year because American insurance companies impose premium increases of 10%, 20%, 30% as they see fit. When I bid on a project, I’m guessing at my costs. My competitors in Canada don’t have that problem.
Obamacare will probably save my business. I’ve read the law. It’s a step toward catching up with the rest of the world.
You are wasting you time responding to Maine gun guy with logic that requires the ability to think deeper than the content of Limbaugh’s tirades during his entertainment show.
Thank you Mr. Picklewalker. But you assume I’m writing for the benefit of Mr. GunGuy.
I’m writing because if we don’t respond to misguided comments, there is a chance that others will accept them as true. And we just can’t afford another election supporting the damage Tea Partiers are doing.
Hope you didn’t hurt yourself thinking up THAT response!
I do not listen to him. That aside I am a full blown conservative. I believe is SMALL government by the people. Anything that restricts the PEOPLE I appose.
Once again the left void of any facts of rational argument resorts to name calling.
Canadas healthcare is not similar to Obamacare at all.
It is more helpful to cite facts rather than simply state an opinion.
The Canadian system:
-Is delivered through the private sector like Obamacare, while UK health care workers, for instance, are virtually public employees.
-Is administered by each province like Obamacare , which relies on health insurance markets in each state. British Columbia is most similar in that citizens there do not pay through a tax like the rest of Canada, but pay premiums to insurance companies. In some provinces dental services are covered, in some they are not.
-Includes measures limiting non health care service cost like Obamacare which caps “administrative costs”.
No doubt there are other similarities and some differences. But, as you can see, Obamacare is similar to health care provisions in Canada.
Canada has Medicare for all. You choose your own doctor and the government pays for the service. Just like Medicare for seniors here. No middleman soaking up profit.
JW……are you stating that you actually have “read the law” ? just checking
So your contention is that the lack of a deduction is a tax?
You are obviously part of the problem, not the solution!
Ok you own a business. Please tell us EXACTLY how this bill will make you able to provide insurance cheaper?
This bill is VERY clear. Insurance companies have to accept new customers even those with pre-existing conditions. Given that alone how can you say any rate will drop. This one thing will drive up every premium. Insurance companies operate on a pool of monies that they collect ion the form of payments. The general idea is that more monies will enter the stream then be paid out. With this bill it makes it impossible to maintain that pool.
Any kid running a lemon-aid stand will tell you if the money going OUT is greater then the money coming in the business fails.
FYI this bill does not as you say “encourage” Americans to get insurance it legally requires it if you fail to do so you will be charged a fine ( now a tax)..
It is very clear. The mandate on people like me, who are young and healthy, will cover those with pre-existing conditions. Then someday when I need care it will also be there for me. That will have the effect of lowering our premiums, because there are more healthy people than sick people.
What else is clear is that you prefer the old system, where we just let sick people die. Of course, the thing most shocking to me is that those who consider themselves “pro-life”, the majority of which are conservative, oppose health care reforms that will save tens of thousands of lives per year. How anyone can consider themselves “pro-life” while supporting nothing that helps a person past their moment of birth astounds me.
I support Obamacare because I am a truly pro-life progressive. It saves lives. And I’m willing to pay for that. Too bad others aren’t.
Mr. Gun Guy:
Your name, Gun Guy, suggests that you are a very intelligent fellow. So, I’m sure you understand how insurance works. Many subscribers pay premiums on the chance that they will be one of the few who need to file a claim. Those who, as it turns out, don’t need insurance thank their lucky stars and continue to subscribe.
In modern times though, medical services have grown so expensive compared to average incomes that many with a good chance of not needing insurance take the gamble and don’t subscribe. And under our current system, if they end up really needing services, they can get it at the emergency room. If they can’t afford emergency attention, they don’t pay and the cost of those services is passed on to health insurance subscribers, those that are left.
As you can see this loss of healthy subscribers increasing costs, leading to greater loss of healthy subscribers, leading to increasing costs… is a downward spiral.
Obamacare will reverse the downward spiral and increase the population of healthy subscribers paying in but not taking out.
Obamacare also places caps on non-medical care costs that insurance companies have charged. Numbers I’ve seen say that Medicare administrative costs are around 5% while insurance companies have lobbied against laws requiring that they keep no more than 30% of premiums.
Obamacare also emphasizes preventive medical services by making regular medical attention available to those who now, due to lack of affordability, wait for an acute episode before seeking much more expensive medical assistance.
Will health care costs go down? I don’t know. But the downward spiral we are currently on is unsustainable. Add this to the fact that even Conservative Party governments in Canada, Germany, France and Britain have now, and support continuing, universal health care in their countries makes me confident we are on the right track with Obamacare.
If you have read and understand that law, I need an appointment with you. I work with tax law every single day and we have struggled with this law since inception. So explain to me how the penalty (whoops, tax) will work, who will pay and what the requirements are and who won’t have to pay and what are the rules for determining who does and does not pay. Also explain the health insurance exchanges and how those work to reduce costs, who regulates and what type of coverage will be available. What about business that employs more than 50 individuals and does not offer health insurance and therefore will have to pay a “shared responsibility” with the government. How is that computed, who will regulate and monitor it and how will it help? When you are done with these, there are the credits we need to discuss, small and big employer and many other provisions that have never even been mentioned because they come later.
Thanks for reading the Affordable Healthcare Act and reporting back to us. I am anxious for these answers and more.
exactly correct.. this will cost way way way more than is being talked about.. the increases in the coming years will be incredible… the american people were lied to from the very beginning .. this was always a tax and it still is.. a whole gaggle of lawyers on the Obama team , including Obama knew that otherwise it would never get past the supreme court as a constitutional bill, but they had to get your approval as citizens.. and the libs bought the story, lock stock and barrel.. and now we pay.. and pay and pay… quality of care will go down business’ will suffer, the economy will tank over time and the deficit will keep getting bigger and bigger so that all your kids and their kids will be on the hook .. we, in a way, were lucky.. if your as old as I am mid 60’s .. we missed this change in America ..at least mostly.. now those who support will have to deal with it just as much as those who are against it.. no body wins .. that said .. there are some good things about this.. and so the court blew it when they didn’t give it back to congress to fix…
. “Thsi is the FIRST and ONLY tax every to REQUIRE you to BUY a product form a private company OR pay a fine”. Why don’t you try dropping your car insurance! If you think that little of your employees that you would drop their insurance, I’m glad I don’t work for you. Romneycare has been in place for how many years? They claim 98% insured. Too bad The Trust Fund Baby has to explain away that! LOL. The truth of the matter is that if Obama came up with a plan where nobody had to pay and everyone had full coverage, the Tea Potty and the Repubs wouls still complain and find fault.
There is NO law saying you have to have car insurance being you do not have to own a car!
I have no employes anymore I sold my company. That said giving the choice between paying 60 grand a year for insurance plus 10 or so to pay to oversee the plan vs a 10 grand fine ( tax) what woudl you choose especially when a small business in Maine can be can win or loose with 10 grand a year difference? Also as I stated the premiums will now go up exponentially just wait. All insurance companies will have to raise rates to cover the new rules such as accepting those already sick..
Yeah sell me the idea that the President (no matter who he is) cares about me or mine. He cares alright, about getting reelected so he can continue of the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama policy of outsourcing employment and selling out to the Chinese communists.
You are correct, and this what I have said all along. Don’t try to force me to buy something…call it tax and TAX ME! Good answer, Mr. Chief Justice.
Spoil sport.
Great post!
And Romney cared for Mass. when he was governor by starting Romneycare for all Mass residents. The guy who designed it for Romney for Mass helped Obama design it for the US.
We can now call it Obamneycare.
You think the penalty actually goes toward paying for emergency room care in a federal budget that is trillions and trillion in the red? Really Jason? Been watching a little Rachel Maddow on MSNBC?
“This massive tax hike will only destroy the American economy as it forces us over the financial cliff,” reads a press release from Gov. Paul LePage’s office.
Stephen King is right!
The Man is a Stone Brain!
Easy pickins for
Norquist, he has got these Weak Brained Teapublicans Hypnotized,
Oh, did he miss the part about it bringing down the deficit in the long term?
The CBO disagrees with you.
I read the CBO report. Did you get to the long term projections?
Then you got the score based on including 2010 numbers not 2011 as would normally be counted. Its a lot of bait and switch to get to Obama numbers 10 years taxes 8 years benefits that sort of thing.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/cbo-obamacare-would-cost-over-2-trillion
You place too much trust in the government.
You quote the CBO and then say you should not place much trust there? You are confusing me. I would read the whole report rather than the snippets this group chooses to focus on. Have a go at it: http://cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/03-13-Coverage%20Estimates.pdf
Thank you. How stupid do they think we are? I want those who I now carry on my premium to pay in. I am tired of paying for their health care. Whether a penalty or a tax they need to kick in. I won’t be paying the penalty/tax. And the large majority of Americans won’t either. If anyone, anywhere believes one word out of anyone’s mouth about this being a new tax they need to have their IQ checked. It is a choice you make and for every choice there is a consequence. It is either pay for insurance or pay the ‘tax’. You cannot have emergency rooms mandated to not refuse on basis of ability to pay and have no way to pay for the service. The alternative is not acceptable to us as a society: You can’t pay, you say, then no medical care for you.
You are not exempt from increased taxes. You will pay and pay and pay.
But this ‘tax’ I will not pay. And, my paying days are over. Ye with checkbooks will continue on in my absence.
As the government taxes your savings and reduces your benefits you might feel differently.
But even then You have no guilt trading your comfort at the expense of future generations
This is a reform law. Its long term projections will actually help future generations. And, you know what? If that does not happen I expect our legislators to look at why not and fix that. I expect the only reason they will find is the always present reprehensible individuals and groups that overcharge, cheat, lie…… you know all those things unprincipled people do that cost the taxpayer billions. Time will tell.
Obamneycare(ACA) is the end of the beginning. It is a place to start the process of insuring every American has health insurance.
And Chief Justice John Roberts’ IQ is??
Don’t know. This should tell you something about that: Roberts grew up in northern Indiana and was educated in a private school before attending Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he was managing editor of the Harvard Law Review.
I say the government do the following:
Impose a tax on those with a BMI over 30.
Impose a tax on those who have sex with more than one partner in a year.
Impose a tax on those who work less than 60 hours per week.
Impose a tax on those who drink more than 1 beer per day.
Impose a tax on those who exercise less than 30 minutes per day.
At what point does taxing of “choices” become unreasonable?
There are a lot of Republicans around who have been hoping for a free ride–don’t buy insurance, and if you get sick, just go to the emergency room and let the taxpayer cover your care.
Now, when they try going without insurance they’ll find they’re required to chip in toward their own eventual care. Republicans taking personal responsibility–at last.
No! —-Republicans being —forced —to be personally responsibility!
They would never “Take” it on their own!
That’s for the other guys!
0
Things You Would Miss About Obamacare—get a clue conservatives
1)
Access to health insurance for 30 million Americans and lower
premiums.
More than 30 million uninsured Americans will find coverage under the
law. Middle-class families who buy health care coverage through the
exchanges will be eligible for refundable and advanceable premium
credits and cost-sharing subsidies to ensure that the coverage they
have is affordable.
2)
The ability of businesses and individuals to purchase comprehensive
coverage from a regulated marketplace.
The law creates new marketplaces for individuals and small businesses
to compare and purchase comprehensive coverage. Insurers will have to
meet quality measures to ensure that Americans can access
comprehensive coverage when they need it.
3)
Insurers’ inability to discriminate against people with
pre-existing conditions.
Beginning in 2014, insurers can no longer deny insurance to families
or individuals with pre-existing conditions. Insurers are also
prohibited from placing lifetime limits on the dollar value of
coverage and rescinding insurers except in cases of fraud. Insurers
are already prohibited from discriminating against children with
pre-existing conditions.
4)
Tax credits for small businesses that offer insurance.
Small employers that purchase health insurance for employees are
already receiving tax credits to encourage them to continue providing
coverage.
5)
Assistance for businesses that provide health benefits to early
retirees.The
law created a temporary reinsurance program for employers providing
health insurance coverage to retirees over age 55 who are not
eligible for Medicare, reimbursing employers or insurers for 80% of
retiree claims. The program has offered at least $4.73 billion in
reinsurance payments to more than 2,800 employers and other sponsors
of retiree plans, with an average cumulative reimbursement per plan
sponsor of approximately $189,700.
6)
Affordable health care for lower-income Americans.
Obamacare extends Medicaid to individuals with incomes up to 138% of
the federal poverty line, guaranteeing that the nation’ most
vulnerable population has access to affordable, comprehensive
coverage.
7)
Investments in women’s health.
Obamacare prohibits insurers from charging women substantially more
than men and requires insurers to offer preventive services —
including contraception — at no additional cost.
8)
Young adults’ ability to stay on their parents’ health care
plans.
More than 3.1 million young people have already benefited from
dependent coverage, which allows children up to age 26 to remain
insured on their parents’ plans.
9)
Discounts for seniors on brand-name drugs.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers are required to provide a 50% discount
on prescriptions filled in the Medicare Part D coverage gap. Seniors
have already saved $3.5 billion on prescription drug costs thanks to
the Affordable Care Act provision.
10)
Temporary coverage for the sickest Americans.
The law established temporary national high-risk pools that are
providing health coverage to individuals with pre-existing medical
conditions who cannot find insurance on the individual market. In
2014, they will be able to enroll in insurance through the exchanges.
67,482 individuals have already benefited from the program.
Is this a DNC press release…?
Most of the benefits that you mentioned are already in place or can be purchased via health insurance policies. There is no free lunch. Poor people simply cannot afford insurance so it has to be paid by the state or feds,both of which we are all a part of. Obama Care is a scam period.
This mandate to have health insurance seems the same as 49 out of 50 states mandate automobile liability insurance and all mortgage holders mandate property insurance. Not much difference.
You don’t have to have a car. Many people choose not to. You don’t buy a house. Many people choose not to.
Duh.
You dont have to buy health insurance you can be fined instead!
Of course, no one has ever defined “health insurance”. No one has described what “health” that’s being insured is. The whole thing is nutty.
Um, yes it has been defined. Your comment is what is nutty.
There is a big difference between the three…alot of the time people that dont have insurance dont go to the hospital or a doctor unless its serious, now people going to be going for everything possible little thing out there, health insurance will then rise up because they are paying out more than what they are being payed in, then your going to have every tom, dick and harry going for false probllems just for the drugs, so watch out more drugs out in the world, then we will be paying for them to go to the methadone clinics..
Of course the purchase of mandated health insurance or the penalty for not purchasing is a tax. The Supreme Court just told it is.
The governments, both federal and state(s), have made health care expensive, way too expensive, for everyone. There was a time when health “insurance” wasn’t necessary. Medicare, in particular, has made health care expensive with its massive subsidy to the industry. There IS a health care bubble that is propped up with dollars that we don’t have in the funding of Medicare. The megaloptic growth of Eastern Maine Health Care in our own backyard is a perfect example. All of it is propped up by Medicare funding to cover the overpriced services to older Americans. It’s going to end, sadly and apocalyptically, because we, as a nation, don’t have the income to support it. The Affordable Health Care Act is going to hasten the demise of the American health care system as we know it.
Well that is the glass is totally empty perspective. My pediatrician cousin says it is very, very (not just very) good on many levels. I trust her opinion. She deals with the issues every day.
How are the Feds going to pay if they don’t tax, printing more? We already have to much worthless money in circulation and other countries are thinking about changing the world money standard. We need reform but it will have to come from the people not from a few politicians. When people start thinking about their health things will start to change. How much of the money spent on health is from bad habits?
That IS the problem, isn’t it. Health care costs are way over priced in the U.S. largely because of the huge Medicare subsidy which supports the artificially high costs of medical care in the U.S. It will all come crashing down, though, not unlike the housing bubble. The cost of health care propped up by the staggering deficits of the federal government is not sustainable. Any person with reason can see that. For the life of me, I don’t understand the idiots in Washington, D.C. The partisan nature of the health care battle has blinded them to reality.
Rising medical costs are the problem, but blaming that rise on Medicare is misplaced. Admin costs for Medicare are around 2% of every dollar, whereas admin costs for some private insurers runs up to 30%. It is certainly a complicated issue with many moving parts. The efficiency that Medicare introduces into the payment system is not one of them.
A single payer, Medicare for all system, like most of the rest of the civilized world, would be cheaper and more efficient than our current for-profit system. Controlling costs of delivery is a big problem but for-profit market solutions is the wrong method of trying to address that.
15-20% since the passage of Obamacare, based on whether or not it’s small group/individual coverage or large group coverage. One of the benefits of Obamacare is that insurance companies actually have to spend their money on treating sick people now.
Wrong. Everything that President Obama has proposed and passed, including what I proudly call Obamacare is completely paid for. That is not what previous Republican administrations, particularly G.W. Bush’s did. He put everything that he enacted ‘off the books’ and famously said that deficits do not matter.
How is it paid for? The only way things have been paid for is to print more money, with out anything to back it and rob peter to pay paul. I vote for who I feel like voting for and lately it is very hard to decide who is the worst of the people running for office. The US is in debt way over its head and I feel sorry for the future generations that will be paying for all of these programs. I’ll only see the start and that will be enough for me.
Lighten up and do more reading …. I believe that the Republicans are ruining this country. The country is not broke and the ACA is NOT paid for by printing more money. That is another Republican lie. In any case, vote for whomever you think best.
Gov, just tell DC no thanks. This state like many
others just can’t afford how this wonderful plan
will cost us less. You don’t have to accept it so
don’t. It took a supreme court judge to tell the liars
that a mandate they claimed wasn’t a tax…is indeed
a tax. Just say no Gov, once you begin it, you own it
and we can’t afford it. Guess it shows that even a judge
feels he can change what he wants a law to say. Our
community organizer isn’t the only one who feels he
can do whatever he wants.
The Governor will be out the door in 2014– You wont see another Republican in the Blaine house for the next 40 years!
It only take one to wake the people up!
Throw Mainers under the tea party express.
Did you read the decision, or just listen to those that did not read it either?
The tax inxrease not impacts individuals but companies, private and public small and large. In 2014, Medtronic one of the largest Med device companies will be billed approx $250 million in additional tax burden. How will they pay? Not by reducing bonueses and stock options and salaries to the top managment. No, this will be paid for by the assemblers, low level managers that will find their jobs being moved to Costa Rica, Malaysia and China. Just what I want, a pacemaker with leads made in China. The R&D money that is used to develop and improve new technologies, well sorry, cannot afford it now. So what do the assemblers and low level mgt, admin people do now? Go work for the government because that is where the jobs will be with this mess.
How a company handles its finances is a measure of their principles. If this scenario plays out they join a large group of unprincipled business men and women. Personally I think it unconscionable that we are held hostage to bonuses and inflated salaries when it comes to health care. Make your tidy profit and call it good. Stop with the gouging. That is what gives capitalism its bad name. And, sure, if you think this the way to do business you deserve that lead in your pacemaker. Cruel, yes, but until the American people say ‘enough’ this is always a consequence of playing the profit game with our health.
Now that an additional 30 million Americans have become insured, the device makers business outlook will improve. They pay a little, they get more customers. Everyone has to have some skin in the game.
So finally we have joined the rest of the world and have a national health plan. This is the same policy proposed by Republicans in the past. This is the same policy adopted by a Republican Governor of Massachusetts. That would be Mitt Romney.
Can’t wait for the debates. How does Mitt squirm his way around this issue. The next big one may be cap and trade which Romney strongly supported as Governor and now as candidate strongly opposes.
Jun 29, 2012 9:12am
FLASHBACK: Romney Acknowledged His Massachusetts Healthcare Plan Imposed A Tax
ABC News’ Michael Falcone reports:
In what is now a well-known exchange from ABC News’
January 2008 Republican presidential debate at St. Anselm College in New
Hampshire, Mitt Romney declared “I like mandates” when asked by
moderator Charlie Gibson about his approach to health care reform in
Massachusetts.
But there’s another moment from the debate that’s getting more
traction after yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling — one in which Romney
says “yes,” when asked is the health reform law he ushered in as
governor constituted a tax.
GIBSON: ”Governor … you imposed tax penalties in Massachusetts?”
ROMNEY: ”Yes, we said, look, if people can afford to buy it, either buy the insurance or pay your own way; don’t be free-riders.”
Republicans are all over mandates when it comes to such patriachal things as invasive trans-vaginal scans for women seeking to control their reproductive health… Glad that lunacy hasn’t infected Maine yet…
Reproductive health = abortion = dead baby. Why did you have to bring that into this debate?
If you READ his comment it’s obvious!
Isn’t it funny that they want to screech that this is a tax increase when their own nominee is the one who designed the plan and the tax increase itself? They’ve boxed themselves into a corner and now they’re going to struggle and do flips in order to claim that Romneycare and Obamacare are somehow different. Now that the SJC has said Obamacare is constitutional, they’re going to have a tough time doing that.
It is a tax. I know this because B. Hussein O. said it isn’t. Either way there is a clear choice here. Romney says he will work to stop this “not a tax” the day he is inaugurated. BHO says lets just move on and leave this “not a tax” alone. If you believe in this stuff vote for your hope and change guy. I myself will vote my pocketbook and for anyone but Barry the former pot smoking obsessed golfer in chief.
Romney is the one who designed the plan. So, nice choice. Well thought out.
Personally I don’t care if the Pope designed this “not a tax” mandate. Its gotta go.
Then quit acting like Romney is sent from heaven and will save ou from this.
Well. My other choice is Barry the golfing wonder so there really isn’t a choice now is there?
Has taken far less vacation time than Bush, Clinton and Bush Sr. at this point in his presidency. Do you have any real issues with the President or is it just the superficial talking points and name-calling that the far-right feeds you?
I have a bunch of issues with your guy but I really like golf. It is something that me and BHO have in common. The difference is I am too busy working so I can pay my taxes and send my kids to college to play every other week. I don’t have to be “focused like a laser” on jobs like him which seems to leave him plenty of time to hit the links.
Right, focused like a laser. That’s the standard? So what you do you think of the House wasting essentially all their time pushing bills that they know won’t pass the Senate and that the President won’t sign? The bills have nothing to do with jobs or the economy. That’s our tax dollars at work.
Seems like you hold people you disagree with to a higher standard than you hold people you agree with. Pathetic.
I totally agree. Barry and the democrats……pathetic. As I recall they had the house, the senate and the white house until 2010. They took “a car that was in the ditch” (so Barry said) and ran it off the cliff……and they didn’t even scream! And that focused like a laser comment? How many times has Barry said that now? That is HIS standard. He said it right before going golfing….again. (Had to get the golf thing back in again. Love that.)
You’re changing the subject.That means you don’t have a defense for the hypocrisy of your statements and positions.
The ol changing the subject dodge? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! Kind of figured that was coming soon here. Bottom line is there is an election coming up in November. You can certainly vote for the golfer in chief. Personally, I think four years of this guy is more than enough proof that he wasn’t up to the job. Hope and change? Not so much. Gotta go to work now. I have college bills and taxes to pay.
You complained about Obama not focusing on the economy/jobs and I pointed out how the Republicans are doing the exact same thing — that’s hypocrisy. Instead of addressing it, you changed the subject.
That means your complaints are baseless and you have some other motivations for hating the President/Democrats.
Wow. Should I send you a check for your psychoanalysis or is the first visit free? Next you are going to tell me that I hate my father and slap my dog! I get your implication and you are exactly wrong. I do not hate democrats or our President. I actually do not hate anyone. I do disagree with democrats more especially liberals and our President which is my right as an American citizen. You trying to twist my words into hate is a low blow.
You’re really getting desperate if all you have are personal attacks at this point.
touche.
Maybe your confusing him with Tiger Woods, you know all “those” people look alike.
““This massive tax hike will only destroy the American economy as it
forces us over the financial cliff,” reads a press release from Gov.
Paul LePage’s office issued after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday
that Obama’s health care law is constitutional.”
Here is what LePage’s/republican policies are doing for GDP in our economy:
http://sdemetri.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/st_locgdp/
LePage and the republican agenda IS NOT HELPING the recovery… It is prolonging the depression we are in.
The fact is both the Republican and Democratic bills are tax bills, as they both reach into my pocket. The government should simply pick up the tab for the people that cannot afford health insurance. Stop taxing the hospitals to pay that cost, which the hospital build into their cost of doing business.
Like everybody is forced to do day in and day out, the government, the insurance companies, and individuals should shop around for the best deal and then go to that facility.
It would be nice if the State ofMaine would pay the hospitals and doctors under Maine Care. That really drives the prices up!!!!!
You are describing what the ACA does. It does give supplements to people who cannot afford to buy health insurance and it does pay the hospitals.
Are you in favor of single payer?
Obamacare brings half a TRILLION in new taxes and takes away half a TRILLION from Medicare. With that much being taken from Medicare, you really think seniors will not be subjected to rationing of healthcare? Dream on.
As one senior your scare tactics do not scare me. But then I have no interest in holding on to a life that is deteriorating. When it is time to leave I will do so as gracefully as I can.
Baloney.
Funny how you are citing a source that says it will ultimately lower the deficit. You seem to have left that part out.
She is not citing a source, she is making it up.
Hypocrisy, thy name is GOP.
I like the Plan. Call it what you want. It gives medical to many, I would like to see a full Social Medical System in place. Then if more or better or different medical is desired, BUY IT.
I would gladly give 2% of my income so that not one person had to go without medical.
The rest of you are Parrots and Cheapskates.
“Republicans discredit their own health insurance overhaul with attack on Obama’s plan”
This is possible because republicans find it easier to be kept in the dark and spoon fed cow pies kind of………… like a mushroom. They can’t stand independent thoughts which is why they listen to Rush, Beck, and the other gasbags, so they will know what to think and why.
Obama care will be a tax decrease for me because I will no longer have to pay the hospital bills for people who could have afforded insurance but chose not to.
Still paying for the 20 million illegals.
True but we get to keep their SS and medicare payments since their employers collect them but the illegals dare not try to collect.
Conservatives loved this plan before Obama endorsed it. Now they hate it. Why? They, like Rush, WANT Obama to fail. They want America to fail under Obama.
” Just 7.3 million people, or 2 percent of the population, will not be
offered financial assistance under the health care law and will be
subject to penalties if they do not obtain coverage. The idea that the
health care law amounts to a tax hike for many Americans is simply
wrong.”
So those people are worthless scumbags and SHOULD pay a penalty is the conclusion I get from reading this drivel. Mostly I agree that EVERYONE should make buying their own health insurance priority one and leave the snowmobiles, boats, 4-wheelers, campers, guns, satellite dishes and the like for when they can afford it. Sadly, we do the opposite and then make laws to make me pay for their insurance. We never have that discussion though, politically incorrect, might hurt someones feelings.
I hope that all who advocate overturning the ACA also are honest enough to advocate overturning the law that forces medical care providers to care for them regardless of ability to pay. Just as they don’t feel they should be forced to pay for their healthcare, I too don’t feel I should be forced to pay for their care … which I am every time I write a check for my medical care.
Just give grandma a pain pill.