Obamacare, the origins of futility: Reported by Jack Ferm

Obamacare is a plan for health care reform that will destroy America as a nation of full time employment. We already see the handwriting on the wall.

More Americans will be reduced to Part Time employment.

American business ingenuity has found away around Obamacare, In advance of the Government mandate that all “Full” time employees are to be provided insurance by their employers, employers are downgrading their employees to part time, meaning an employee who worked 40 hours previously will now work approximately 30 hours per week. Can they survive on twenty-five (25%) percent less take home pay?

Will the economy survive?

This Reporter did a random survey and found the following; companies that employ 30 or more workers may only have two (2) full time employees, the remainder are part time…

Companies are more reluctant to hire individuals that come from lower income backgrounds because of the Insurance exchange requirements.

American Businesses that will hire are generally right around Minimum wage!

The fault line with Obamacare

Obamacare is like a fault-zone primed and ready to devastate America.

Obamacare’s inherent weakness is the legislature’s lack of insight. It is one thing to pass a law, but it is foolhardiness not to carefully consider the ramifications of its enactment. That is what our congress failed to do…

Obamacare is a national failure even before it is fully enacted. First it eviscerates Medicare and Medicaid, both successful programs that were enacted in 1965… Obamacare: (i) Reduces funding for Medicare Advantage policies: $132 billion; (ii) Reduces Medicare home health care payments: $40 billion; and (iii) Reduces certain Medicare hospital payments: $22 billion;

It further provides a 10% sales tax on indoor tanning. But how is this even lawful? The interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution has long been recognized as a complete bar to the taxation of retail sales in the fifty states by the federal government.  The interstate commerce clause allows for taxation by the federal government of the first sale at the wholesale level after interstate transport occurs, but effectively forbids the taxation of general retail sales by the federal government. A Tanning salon is not involved in interstate activity and the Federal Taxing power can not reach it…but why are the various attorneys general of the states not addressing this invasion of their own taxing power?

In this last item the Federal Government lays a direct tax on an intrastate business; without lawful or constitutional authority. The power to tax comes from the Interstate commerce clause of the Constitution, an intrastate business does not fall under this umbrella unless as the US Supreme Court has held such intrastate business impacts commerce…but tanning salons don’t!

The second Federal Authority to tax attaches to our incomes it comes from the sixteenth Amendment…a sales tax on an American Business does not fall under this taxing authority either.

Obamacare increases the tax burden on Americans who work Full time

The employee ultimately pays a tax on any benefit the employer provides, for example; Employers must disclose the value of the benefits they provided beginning in 2012 for each employee's health insurance coverage on the employee's annual Form W-2 that means a higher tax burden for employees who are considered full time and receive this benefit, a portion of the benefit will be paid to the Federal Government in the form of a higher tax obligation.

Hospitals will lose income

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin the “Readmissions Reduction Program”, which requires CMS to reduce payments to IPPS hospitals with excess readmissions. So it is now more advisable to remain in a hospital rather then to be readmitted later… hospitals will forfeit more than $280 million in Medicare funds, over readmissions. What may occur is the Hospital may consider rejecting a separate occurrence for such events as kidney stones. Yes this is anticipated to save the government money, but at what cost?

Medicare Part “D” (Drug Coverage) will be cancelled

By 2020 part “D” of Medicare will be phased out and discontinued.

Obamacare will leave 30 million Americans without coverage.

Obamacare is only estimated to add about 17 million American to the insurance rolls but at what cost? The Individual Mandate remains a tortured misapplication of Constitutional law and has raised serious questions regarding our own Supreme Court as the last arbitrator

The 5-4 Supreme Court decision was rather sorrowful. It is unprecedented for the Federal government to exercise authority to fine someone outside of regulated fields for their failure to act in a prescribed fashion. And, in fact, the Federal government has no such authority. In order to find the individual mandate Constitutional, the Supreme Court engaged in the very twisted logic of interpreting those fines as being taxes, and the ability to levy them as an extension of the government's taxing authority. A fine and a Tax are not interchangeable authority. A fine is a penalty; a tax is a revenue raising measure.

Obamacare is a failure in every regard but one…it provides a benefit to the insurance carrier in the way of added consumer participation and premiums.