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FACT CHECK: Truth takes a holiday on both sides of Obamacare debate
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama promises nothing will change for people who like their health coverage except it'll become more affordable, but the facts don't back him up. Mitt Romney groundlessly calls the health care law a slayer of jobs certain to deepen the national debt.
Welcome to the health care debate 2.0. As the claims fly, buyer beware.
After the Supreme Court upheld the law last week, Obama stepped forward to tell Americans what good will come from it. Romney was quick to lay out the harm. But some of the evidence they gave to the court of public opinion was suspect.
A look at their claims and how they compare with the facts:
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OBAMA: "If you're one of the more than 250 million Americans who already have health insurance, you will keep your health insurance. This law will only make it more secure and more affordable."
ROMNEY: "Obamacare also means that for up to 20 million Americans, they will lose the insurance they currently have, the insurance that they like and they want to keep."
THE FACTS: Nothing in the law ensures that people happy with their policies now can keep them. Employers will continue to have the right to modify coverage or even drop it, and some are expected to do so as more insurance alternatives become available to the population under the law. Nor is there any guarantee that coverage will become cheaper, despite the subsidies many people will get.
Americans may well end up feeling more secure about their ability to obtain and keep coverage once insurance companies can no longer deny, terminate or charge more for coverage for those in poor health. But particular health insurance plans will have no guarantee of ironclad security. Much can change, including the cost.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the number of workers getting employer-based coverage could drop by several million, as some workers choose new plans in the marketplace or as employers drop coverage altogether. Companies with more than 50 workers would have to pay a fine for terminating insurance, but in some cases that would be cost-effective for them.
Obama's soothing words for those who are content with their current coverage have been heard before, rendered with different degrees of accuracy. He's said nothing in the law requires people to change their plans, true enough. But the law does not guarantee the status quo for anyone, either.
So where does Romney come up with 20 million at risk of losing their current plans?
He does so by going with the worst-case scenario in the budget office's analysis. Researchers thought it most likely that employer coverage would decline by 3 to 5 million, but the range of possibilities was broad: It could go up by as much as 3 million or down by as much as 20 million.
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ROMNEY: After saying the new law cuts Medicare by $500 billion and raises taxes by a like amount, adds: "And even with those cuts and tax increases, Obamacare adds trillions to our deficits and to our national debt, and pushes those obligations onto coming generations."
THE FACTS: In its most recent complete estimate, in March 2011, the Congressional Budget Office said the new health care law would actually reduce the federal budget deficit by $210 billion over the next 10 years. In the following decade, the law would continue to reduce deficits by about one-half of one percent of the nation's gross domestic product, the office said.
The congressional budget scorekeepers acknowledged their projections are "quite uncertain" because of the complexity of the issue and the assumptions involved, which include the assumption that all aspects of the law are implemented as written. But the CBO assessment offers no backup for Romney's claim that the law "adds trillions to our deficits."
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OBAMA: "And by this August, nearly 13 million of you will receive a rebate from your insurance company because it spent too much on things like administrative costs and CEO bonuses and not enough on your health care."
THE FACTS: Rebates are coming, but not nearly that many Americans are likely to get those checks and for many of those who do, the amount will be decidedly modest.
The government acknowledges it does not know how many households will see rebates in August from a provision of the law that makes insurance companies give back excess money spent on overhead instead of health care delivery. Altogether, the rebates that go out will benefit nearly 13 million people. But most of the benefit will be indirect, going to employers because they cover most of the cost of insurance provided in the workplace.
Employers can plow all the rebate money, including the workers' share, back into the company's health plan, or pass along part of it.
The government says some 4 million people who are due rebates live in households that purchased coverage directly from an insurance company, not through an employer, and experts say those households are the most likely to get a rebate check directly.
The government says the rebates have an average value of $151 per household. But employers, who typically pay 70 to 80 percent of premiums, are likely to get most of that.
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ROMNEY: "Obamacare raises taxes on the American people by approximately $500 billion."
THE FACTS: The tax increases fall heavily on upper-income people, health insurance companies, drug makers and medical device manufacturers.
People who fail to obtain health insurance as required by the law will face a tax penalty, although that's expected to hit relatively few because the vast majority of Americans have insurance and many who don't will end up getting it. Also, a 10 percent tax has been imposed on tanning bed use as part of the health care law. There are no other across-the-board tax increases in the law, although some tax benefits such as flexible savings accounts are scaled back. Of course, higher taxes on businesses can be passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices.
Individuals making over $200,000 and couples making over $250,000 will pay 0.9 percent more in Medicare payroll tax and a 3.8 percent tax on investments. As well, a tax starts in 2018 on high-value insurance plans.
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OBAMA: "Because of the Affordable Care Act, young adults under the age of 26 are able to stay on their parents' health care plans, a provision that's already helped 6 million young Americans."
THE FACTS: Obama is overstating this benefit of his health law, and his own administration knows better. The Department of Health and Human Services, in a June 19 news release, said 3.1 million young adults would be uninsured were it not for the new law. Obama's number comes from a June 8 survey by the Commonwealth Fund, a health policy foundation. It said 6.6 million young adults joined or stayed on their parents' health plans who wouldn't have been able to absent the law. But that number includes some who switched to their parents' plans from other coverage, Commonwealth Fund officials told the Los Angeles Times.
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ROMNEY: "Obamacare is a job-killer."
THE FACTS: The CBO estimated in 2010 that the law would reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by roughly half a percent.
But that's mostly because the law will give many people the opportunity to retire, stay at home with family or switch to part-time work, since they will be able to get health insurance more easily outside of their jobs. That voluntary retreat from the workforce, made possible by the law's benefits, is not the same as employers slashing jobs because of the law's costs, as Romney implies.
The law's penalties on employers who don't provide health insurance might cause some companies to hire fewer low-wage workers or to hire more part-timers instead of full-time employees, the budget office said. But the main consequence would still be from more people choosing not to work.
Apart from the budget office and other disinterested parties that study the law, each side in the debate uses research sponsored by interest groups, often slanted, to buttress its case. Romney cites a Chamber of Commerce online survey in which nearly three-quarters of respondents said the law would dampen their hiring.
The chamber is a strong opponent of the law, having run ads against it. Its poll was conducted unscientifically and is therefore not a valid measure of business opinion.
Local Stories
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Feds building health care exchanges on schedule despite fight from GOP governors
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Local business monitoring changes stemming from Affordable Care Act
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New no-cost women's health benefits go into effect today
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Non-partisan group says Obama's health care overhaul will shrink the deficit
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Repealing Affordable Care Act won't be as easy as GOP makes it seem
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Taxpayers footing the bill for Congress non-action 'prevent defense'
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GOP House votes to kill health law
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33rd time's the charm? Congress tries again to repeal Affordable Care Act
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Report: 83-percent of doctors consider quitting over Obama's health care reform
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Gov. Rick Scott touts inaccurate figure for cost of Obamacare to Florida
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'Romneycare' success may bode well for 'Obamacare'
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SPIN METER: Meet the health care 'tax'
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ATTORNEY: Supreme Court justices should be jailed over Obamacare ruling
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FACT CHECK: Can you keep your health plan under 'Obamacare'?
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FACT CHECK: Truth takes a holiday on both sides of Obamacare debate
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Scott: Florida will not implement 2 parts of healthcare law
National Stories
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The Cost of Obamacare on Your Wallet
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A Legal Challenge to Mandatory Contraception Coverage
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Hobby Lobby Sues Over Health Care
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The Cost of Pregnancies Will Soar Under Obamacare
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The Power of Health Care Exchanges
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Business Owners Sort Through Best Health Care Options
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Healing America in the War over Health Care Reform
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Teaching Health Care Reform to the Business World
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The Big Winner Coming Out of Health Care Reform
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States Size Up Expansion of Medicaid
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How will the Health Care Law Impact Rural America?
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Estimated Cost of the Affordable Care Act Skyrockets
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Stuck in the Doughnut Hole of Health Care
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Shopping for Health Care
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How will Older Consumers Fare Under the New Health Care Law?
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The Underbelly of Health Care Reform
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How will Businesses Handle the New Health Care Reform Law?
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The Impact of Health Care on President Obama's Legacy
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Health Care Reform's Bottom Line
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Conscious Clause
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Health Care Holy War
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Who Stands to Gain From the Health Care Law?
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Health Care Quiz
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Enforcing the Health Care Tax
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Free Riders
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When is a Tax, a Tax
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Health Care to the Core
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Supreme Court Rules on Health Care
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Suing the Supreme Court
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Videos Coming Soon
Links
- House votes to fully repeal Obamacare
With implementation of Obamacare set to begin later this year, the vote is largely symbolic. The Senate is highly unlikely to even take up a vote on repeal.
- AP: Cancer, MS Patients May Face Outrageous Costs Under ObamaCare
Opponents of President Obama’s health care overhaul have long warned about the cost of the change, both on a national and personal level. But now, even the Associated Press is acknowledging that some of the most ill in our society– whom many thought would now have “free” or dramatically cheaper coverage– may be hit the hardest.
- House to vote again on repealing ‘Obamacare’ next week
The House will vote again next week to repeal the 2010 health-care reform law, a decision by top Republican leaders designed in part to appease GOP freshmen lawmakers who have not had an opportunity to take a vote on the issue.
- NEW form you need for Obamacare
The form for individuals is a scant three pages -- a big improvement from the 21-page draft version circulated earlier this year.
- Congress Exempt? Issue May be Far Less Interesting
The story has blown up on Twitter. “Unbelievable,” tweets TPM’s Brian Beutler. “Flat out incredible,” says Politico’s Ben White. “Obamacare for thee, but not for me,” snarks Ben Domenech. “Two thumbs way, way down,” says Richard Roeper. (Okay, I made the last one up).
- Washington Post: About the Obamacare ‘train wreck’
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday. The moment that made headlines was when Sen. Max Baucus, the key author of the health-care law, fretted that the rollout would be “a huge train wreck
- Obamacare Adviser Zeke Emanuel: Obamacare Uncertainity Driving Up Premiums
"Can the premiums be kept relatively stable and not growing at, you know, 10, 12 percent? The first year is filled with uncertainty,” Emanuel said.
- Top Obamacare jobs vacant for months at HHS as Baucus fears 'train wreck,' Issa demands docs
Top executive jobs have been vacant for months at the Department of Health and Human Services key Obamacare insurance program, but officials there refuse to talk about the problem.
- Want to know the future of Obamacare? Take a look at Fort Dodge, Iowa.
The city has a population of 25,136 and a median income of $38,015. It is apparently named after a Wisconsin senator, which seems a bit strange for a city in Iowa
- Is Labor Turning Against Obamacare?
A union is calling for the law's repeal
- Affordable Care Act rules differ for former foster kids
While many young adults are now covered by the Affordable Care Act, able to remain on their parents' insurance until age 26, the rules are different for those like Cox-Reed, who grew up in the foster care system.
- Regal Entertainment Group's Obamacare Policy Leads To Facebook Backlash
The country's largest movie theater chain probably didn't expect widespread boycotts when it recently sent out a company memo about health care costs
- Baucus warns of 'huge train wreck' enacting ObamaCare provisions
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Wednesday he fears a "train wreck" as the Obama administration implements its signature healthcare law.
- How ObamaCare Blocks Reform From Taxes To Immigration
Is ObamaCare the reform to end all other reforms?
- Health law could boost use of temp workers
The health-care law could prove to be a boon for temporary-staffing companies as employers outsource jobs to sidestep complex requirements for medical insurance.
- Big Obamacare Backer Issues Warning
West Virginia Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller, one of the towering architects of Obamacare, on Tuesday openly criticized program managers for not moving quickly enough to build the system, warning that if it gets off to a bumpy start it will just get worse.
- Forbes: To Sign Up For Obamacare, Start Filling Out The Forms Now
The on-line version of that form requires 60 printed pages to spell out all the queries. (A condensed paper version of the same application fills 21 pages).
- ObamaCare in Trouble? Exchange provision delayed, as lawmakers push to repeal another
The Obama administration now says a special system of exchanges designed to make it easier for small businesses to provide insurance will be delayed an entire year -- to 2015.
- Most individual health insurance isn't good enough for Obamacare
If you buy your own health insurance now, you'll be in for a big change when you sign up for coverage in 2014.
- Does The Republican plan for replacing Obamacare really replace Obamacare?
Take a look at the 8 point place to replace Obamacare.
- Lawsuit over health care tax could kill ‘Obamacare’
“Obamacare” looks increasingly inevitable, but one lawsuit making its way through the court system could pull the plug on the sweeping federal health care law.
- Groups Of Adults Turn To Cooperative Households To Save Money in Light of Health Care Costs
With the cost of living on the rise and showing no sign of slowing down, total strangers desperate to save money are moving in together.
- W.H. Still Insists Obamacare Will Lower 'Future' Rates
Here's a White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, being asked about the comments today:
- Study estimates Obamacare could raise individual claim costs 32 percent
Actuaries groups offers sobering look at the rising costs for individual insurance coverage plans under Obama health law
- Sebelius: Yep, ObamaCare is raising insurance costs
A watershed moment in the ongoing disaster of ObamaCare, as Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius finally admits that health insurance premiums are rising because of the President’s health insurance takeover, per the Wall Street Journal:
- Is medical device tax next piece of Obamacare to be scrapped?
The Senate voted 79-20 last week to repeal a 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices, dealing a blow to one of the new taxes imposed to pay for health care reform.
- Obamacare Costs Spark Voter Cynicism
Nowhere is this frustration and distrust more apparent than in the realm of health policy. Three years after the enactment of Obamacare, the level of skepticism about it remains high.
- Here’s Obamacare’s most controversial regulation
The requirement that contraceptives be covered without co-payment has drawn more than 147,000 public comments, according to an analysis from the Sunlight Foundation.
- Judge overturns Mo. law on birth control coverage
federal judge has struck down a Missouri law exempting moral objectors from mandatory birth control coverage because it conflicts with an insurance requirement under President Barrack Obama's health care law.
- Obamacare Group Appointments With Doctors: When Three Isn't A Crowd
According to a study published in December, meeting the country's health-care needs will require nearly 52,000 additional primary-care physicians by 2025. More than 8,000 of that total will be needed for the more than 27 million people newly insured under the Affordable Care Act.
- Want Obamacare? Here’s the 21-page draft application
The Affordable Care Act also envisions a group of navigators, financed by state exchanges, who will—as the name implies—help navigate the insurance system.
- Affordable Care Act: Rural hospitals face coverage quandary
Like many rural hospitals, the Brownfield Regional Medical Center has a high percentage of patients on Medicaid, the joint federal and state program that helps low-income and uninsured people pay for medical and custodial care.
- Care about Obamacare? Then you should really care about Arkansas
When Arkansas governor Mike Beebe was in Washington for the National Governors Association meeting, he made a trip to Health and Human Services.
- Judge: Feds Can’t Make Domino’s Founder Offer Birth Control under Obamacare
A federal judge has blocked the Obama administration from requiring Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan to provide mandatory contraception coverage to his employees under the federal health care law.
- Associated Press: Applying for Obamacare ‘Enormously Time Consuming and Complex’
Applying for benefits under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul could be as daunting as doing your taxes.
- Obamacare May Bite You At The Vets Office
Pet owners listen up: You may want to start saving more money for veterinarian care this year. The reason goes all the way back to Washington and an unintended consequence from medical reform
- Fact Check: Does ‘Obamacare’ have $1 trillion in tax hikes, aimed at the middle class?
When the health care law became law in 2010, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation provided estimates of the revenues in the law. But those estimates did not give a full picture because some big taxes did not begin until 2013 — and some are delayed even further. That means the tax number is bound to grow each year we move into a different budget window.
- Tax Prof: ObamaCare Tax Increases Are Double Original Estimate
The Joint Committee on Taxation recently released a 96 page report on the tax provisions associated with Affordable Care Act. The report describes the 21 tax increases included in Obamacare, totaling $1.058 trillion – a steep increase from initial assessment, according to the Tax Prof Blog.
- Rep. Paul Ryan's Budget Assumes the Repeal of Obamacare
"We think we owe the American people a balanced budget," Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said on Sunday.
- How Obamacare will make finding a doctor harder
A study in the American Journal of Medical Quality found that the ranks of “safety-net physicians” — those willing to see Medicaid and uninsured patients —appears to be at its limit under current circumstances.
- Obamacare sales tax whacks Republican super PACs
Federal tax regulators outlined the rules pertaining to a tax on health insurance companies (and super PACs, to Karl Rove’s chagrin) levied by Obamacare that will cost$58.8 billion over five years before rising after 2018.
- HHS Proposes Delaying Key Part of ObamaCare’s Small Business Health Insurance Exchanges
In response to skepticism that ObamaCare’s health insurance exchanges will be ready on schedule later this year, Obama administration officials have been swearing up and down, cross their hearts and hope to voucherize Medicare, that ObamaCare’s exchanges — the health insurance portals that are the centerpiece of the law — will indeed be ready on time.
- Obamacare requires employers to offer insurance. What if it’s too expensive?
Millions of lower-income workers may gain access to employer-sponsored health insurance under the Affordable Care Act—but they may decide not to purchase that coverage.
- What’s changed, what’s coming and how Obamacare affects you
A look at changes under the Affordable Care Act.
- Factcheck: Will ‘Obamacare’ cost $20,000 a family?
Check out a fact check of some of the phases of Obamacare rollout.
- Florida doesn't have enough doctors for Medicaid expansion, lobby group says
Brace yourself for longer lines at the doctor's office.
- Universal Orlando dropping health coverage for part-time workers over ObamaCare rule
The rule, which has raised concern at a number of other companies, would restrict annual limits on insurance policies. The trade-off in these plans has historically been that while payouts were capped, premiums were low.
- Dunkin' Brands Lobbying Against Key Obamacare Provision
An iconic American brand has come out against a key Obamacare provision requiring some companies to expand their health insurance coverage.
- An Alternative to Obamacare?
Instead of paying for more poor people to have health insurance, S.C. Republicans offered to pay hospitals more to keep poor people out of emergency rooms.
- 26 States to Get Obamacare Exchanges With Little Local Input
The Obama administration said that it will operate federal online health insurance marketplaces in 26 of the 50 U.S. states with little or no input from local state officials.
- Are There More Obamacare ‘Surprises’
Every time one of the warnings voiced by Obamacare’s critics before the law was enacted has come true, the law’s most eager champions (i.e. the political press) have seemed deeply surprised. It’s almost as if they just weren’t listening, isn’t it?
- Under Obamacare, who even counts as a tobacco user?
Big tobacco companies and anti-cancer activists are standing in opposition to a part of the Affordable Care Act that allows insurance companies to charge smokers 50 percent more than patients who do not use tobacco
- Rate shock: How ObamaCare is causing a surge in insurance premiums
Over the past couple of weeks, many insurance companies have provided guidance in their investor calls that premiums for insurance plans being sold in the individual market could go up as much as 50 percent on average.
- Va. Gov. cuts state employee hours to avoid Obamacare costs
About 10,000 Virginia public employees are poised to see their hours cut back as Gov. Bob McDonnell continues to find ways around what he said were President Obama's costly health care reforms.
- Obamacare co-ops being created behind closed doors
Secrecy shrouds President Obama's $2 billion program to launch 24 new co-ops designed to compete with private insurance companies under the chief executive's landmark health care reform.
- Obamacare red tape burden: 127,602,371 hours yearly
Complying with the raging tsunami of new Obamacare rules and regulations will cost American businesses and families 127 million hours annually, enough time to carve out another 1,039 Mount Rushmores which took 14 years complete, according to a new House report.
- Column: Obamacare Starts In 2013, As Should Plans To Reform It
2013 will be a crucial year in the implementation of Obamacare, and a central focus of the Obama administration. Thus far, the Obama administration’s emphasis has been on standing up the program’s basic edifice for the long run rather than making sure it rolls out smoothly. Once erected, the law’s dictates will transform the underlying architecture of the American health care system – perhaps permanently.Given these stakes, Obamacare’s critics cannot afford to spend the next year on the sidelines and accept its intrusive excesses as the new status quo in American healthcare.
- Seven million will lose insurance under Obama health law
President Obama's health care law will push 7 million people out of their job-based insurance coverage — nearly twice the previous estimate, according to the latest estimates from the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday.
- IRS: Cheapest Obamacare Plan Will Be $20,000 Per Family
In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year.
- Health care reform: Timeline for Affordable Care Act
What's next for the implementation of "ObamaCare"? Take a look at the history of the Affordable Care Act and what laws are ahead through 2016.
- Will Health-Care Reform Cause Hospitals to Turn Patients Away? VIDEO
- How Might Immigration Reform Influence Health Care Reform?
After decades of debate and legal challenges, national health care reform moves onward. Next up: immigration reform. The two are linked. Immigrants -- both those who are documented and those who are not -- are less likely to have health insurance than their U.S.-born counterparts. Almost half the documented immigrants in the U.S. do not have health coverage, according to 2011 Employee Benefit Research Institute statistics .
- John Metz Denny's Obamacare Surcharge Stirs Big Mess For Restaurant Chain
Don't expect to hear more about an Obamacare surcharge from Denny's franchisee John Metz.
- Darden Restaurants Tests Hiring Of More Part-Time Employees To Avoid Obamacare Costs
The owner of Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants is putting more workers on part-time status in a test aimed at limiting costs from President Barack Obama's health care law.
- Under Health Care Reform, Employers May Slash Workers' Hours To Avoid Mandate
In the choice between either cutting workers' hours or settling for a smaller profit margin, some people expect most companies will be more concerned with their own bottom lines than with those of their workers.
- Study: Health care costs to increase for business under health law
If you've got anywhere between 101 and 1,000 employees, listen up: Your health care costs are expected to rise 9.5 percent because of federal health care reform.
- Open Enrollment and Obamacare: What You Need to Know
While health care is still a hot issue in the election, in the coming months consumers will be facing a health insurance decision of their own: open enrollment. That’s the period, usually in the last quarter of the year, when workers with insurance can change coverage options without having to prove their health status.
- Could small businesses skirt Obamacare’s mandates?
Bob Laszewski, a former insurance executive, has taken a look at how small businesses might dodge a number of the health law’s (potentially expensive) mandates: They could self-insure.
- Liking It or Not, States Prepare for Health Law
Like many Republican governors, Jan Brewer of Arizona is a stinging critic of President Obama’s health care law. When the Supreme Court upheld it in June, she called the ruling “an overreaching and unaffordable assault on states’ rights and individual liberty.”
- CBO raises estimate of those hit by Obama health care tax
Congress‘ official scorekeeper said Wednesday that 30 million people will be uninsured when President Obama’s health care law goes fully into effect, including six million Americans who are expected to pay a tax penalty — about two million more than originally forecast when the law was passed in 2010.
- Hobby Lobby Files Suit Against Health Care Mandate
The founder of Hobby Lobby, David Green said during a conference call that his family's faith is being challenged by the federal government.
- Bart Stupak: “Perplexed and disappointed” that White House undid Obamacare abortion compromise
In a forum at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, former Michigan Democratic congressman Bart Stupak made a surprising admission: The White House had walked away from the compromise it had earlier struck with him on the abortion language in Obamacare.
- Bloomberg: The Great Medicare Cost-Control Experiment Begins
In the Obama administration’s effort to transform the American health-care system, perhaps the biggest challenge is whether Obamacare can reign in costs without sacrificing quality.
- Ryan: Obama Using Medicare As A ‘Piggy Bank’ For Obamacare
Paul Ryan accused President Obama on Wednesday of raiding Medicare to fund "Obamacare," a common campaign attack for the Romney-Ryan campaign, at a rally in Adel, Iowa.
- Did Paul Ryan Request Obamacare Cash?
Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan is barnstorming the country, promising to repeal every provision of the Affordable Care Act if the Romney-Ryan ticket is elected. But a letter he wrote to the Obama administration may undermine this message.
- Governors bucking Obamacare gamble with women's health
In four southern states where maternal or pregnancy-related mortality is higher than average and insurance coverage is lower, health authorities worry about governors' decisions to decline Medicaid expansion.
- TX AG compares fight against Obamacare to Alamo
Comparing it to the battle of the Alamo, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said Wednesday though the state lost the health care fight in the U.S. Supreme Court, there are other ways to dismantle the landmark legislation critics call Obamacare.
- National Review: Trying to Love Obamacare?
After running away from Obamacare since 2010, Democrats embraced the law and tried to wrap it in new packaging in hopes it will sell better.
- Washington Post: Repealing Obamacare would take health care away from people
There’s been a good deal of punditry to the effect that Obama and Dems will have to run from the health law this cycle; Obamacare remains unpopular and a symbol of Obama taking his eye off the ball of the economy; etc. This doesn’t really look like running away from the health law, does it?
- Student Health Care Costs to Skyrocket at Private NC College Due to Obamacare: ‘This Is the Beginning’
Guilford College in North Carolina will likely be forced to charge students 75 percent more for health insurance in order to comply with federal regulations under President Barack Obama’s sweeping healthcare law, college administrators told Campus Reform.
- Book: Obamacare law designed to unionize 21 million health care workers
In a book set for publication Tuesday, a politics and government professor at The Citadel claims President Obama’s 2009 health care reform law was, in part, a union-driven effort to organize 21 million health care workers.
- Fact Check: Four video explanations of ‘gaffes’ by Obama and Romney
Take a closer look at “gaffes” made by President Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney. Find out what they really said — without the selective editing
- Health law readiness follows state, party lines
The District and Maryland are moving aggressively to implement virtual markets of insurance plans, becoming national leaders in carrying out President Obama’s vision for health care reform, while their Republican neighbors in Virginia remain less than eager to implement the controversial law.
- Parents’ insurance covers children up to age 26 — but not for pregnancy
The health-care overhaul provides a safety net for young adult children, who can now stay on their parents’ health plans until they reach age 26. But it doesn’t guarantee that their parents’ plan will cover a common medical condition that many young women face: pregnancy.
- Democrats: OK, We WIll Say "Obamacare"
It's the term critics invented for President Obama’s health law, more properly known as the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Republicans long ago successfully pasted the president’s name on the program to deride it as a big-government boondoggle. But now an unlikely group has adopted the moniker: Democrats.
- NY Times:U.S. Officials Brace for Huge Task of Operating Health Exchanges
Obama administration officials are getting ready to set up and operate new health insurance markets in about half the states, where local officials appear unwilling or unable to do so.
- Poll: 46 percent of Americans could still change their mind about Obamacare
Despite the Supreme Court decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, a new poll shows that 46 percent of Americans admit they can still be persuaded to change their opinion of the law.
- In-store clinics look to be a remedy for healthcare law influx
If you thought it was hard getting a doctor's appointment now, just wait until 30 million more Americans join the line.
- Judge Temporarily Stops Administration from Forcing Christian Family to Act Against Faith
U.S. District Judge John L. Kane issued an injunction that temporarily prohibits the Obama administration from forcing a Christian family in Colorado to act against its faith in the way it operates its heating, ventilation and air-conditioning business.
- Nearly one in 10 employers to drop health coverage
About one in 10 employers plan to drop health coverage when key provisions of the new health care law kick in less than two years from now, according to a survey.
- Judge Rejects States' Lawsuit Challenging Obamacare Contraception Mandate
Seven attorneys general trying to block the federal health care law's requirement for contraception coverage saw their lawsuit dismissed Tuesday by a federal judge who said they didn't have standing to file it.
- Doc says ‘physicians have reached a tipping point’
A doctor representing the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons told The Daily Caller that “physicians have reached a tipping point” under current health care laws, as they cannot both care for their patients and comply with mandated regulations.
- ObamaCare's Unenforceable Linchpin
Americans can refuse to comply with its command that they obtain government-approved medical coverage.
- Judge Rejects States' Lawsuit Challenging Obamacare Contraception Mandate
Seven attorneys general trying to block the federal health care law's requirement for contraception coverage saw their lawsuit dismissed by a federal judge who said they didn't have standing to file it.
- Plan now for tax impacts of health care reform
With the Supreme Court upholding the health care law, millions of Americans now face the prospect of getting health insurance or paying Uncle Sam a penalty/tax. That could mean an extra car payment each month for families not paying for coverage now.
- Reform may hit hospitals harder
The immediate reaction on Wall Street to last month’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding President Obama’s health care law was to buy hospital stocks and dump health insurance stocks. But at least one analyst expects the long-term outcome to be exactly opposite of that
- Americans Are Still Confused About Health-Care Reform
Results from a Gallup poll show that voters' beliefs about the ACA's anticipated effects are highly colored by partisan affiliation.
- Maryland examines taxes, fees to fund health exchange
The state of Maryland is looking for ways to raise up to $50 million annually though an assortment of taxes and fees to finance the state's health benefits exchange, an insurance marketplace that the federal health care law requires states to have operational by 2014.
- FTC: Health ruling is prompting scams
Federal trade regulators warned Friday that scam artists are using the healthcare law to ask for consumers' personal information over the phone.
- Estimated Cost of ‘Obamacare’ Is Now $2.6 Trillion — Nearly $1.7 Trillion More Than Obama Promised
According to the latest estimates, President Obama’s health care law, also known as “Obamacare,” will cost around $2.6 trillion over the next 10 years, nearly $1.7 trillion more than Obama’s initial promise of $900 billion.
- Congressman: Door Opens For More Government Taxes
The U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the 2010 health-care law’s individual insurance mandate as a tax opens a “brave new world” for Congress to impose levies, said Representative Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
- Tax businesses see profits in healthcare law
While some see the new healthcare law as a source of controversy, tax preparation companies see it as an opportunity, hoping it will bring in millions of new and confused customers.
- IRS to Issue ‘Scary Letters & Threats,’ Hire Thousands of New Employees to Enforce Health Care Law
Can the Internal Revenue Service police President Barack Obama’s health care mandate while simultaneously collecting all the taxes for running the federal government?
- SEIU to spend $250,000 on Spanish-language ads on Obamacare repeal vote
The Service Employees International Union announced it would run radio ads in the battleground states of Nevada, Virginia and Colorado aimed at telling the Spanish-language community it should back Obamacare
- House member compares healthcare law to TV's Boss Hogg
Rep. Phil Gingrey compared the 2010 healthcare law to Boss Hogg, the crooked commissioner of the fictional Hazzard County, Ga., in the 1970s TV series "The Dukes of Hazzard."
- Lawmakers attempt to shield religious organizations from HHS mandate tax
The bill is called the Religious Freedom Tax Repeal Act of 2012.
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