FixHealthCarePolicy

Video of the Week: “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it”

You might have seen this week a stunning demonstration of political condescension on the health care front. In remarks at the 2010 Legislative Conference for the National Association of Counties, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy.”

This revealing comment reinforces a patriarchal (or in Pelosi’s case matriarchal) attitude Congress has taken with the American public: What lurks within the House and Senate health care bills will be revealed in the fullness of time, and it’s really good for us if we only knew better. (more…)

Tags: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Individual Mandate, ObamaCare, reconciliation, Senate Health Bill, taxes, taxpayer-funded abortions

What the House Would Have to Swallow in the Senate Bill

Amidst all the intense speculation about quickly passing the President’s health care agenda through the Budget Reconciliation process before the Easter Recess, ordinary Americans should remember one thing: the House of Representatives must first pass the 2,700-page, $2.5 trillion, Senate health bill. So, the next big step in the national health care debate is floor action in the House of Representatives, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi must round up at least 216 votes.

Heritage analysts have conducted some extensive research and analysis of the provisions of the giant Senate bill. If the House passes the Senate bill and it goes to the President’s desk for signature, it then would become the law of the land. For all intents and purposes, the legislative debate would then be over.

Regardless of Administration or Senate leadership promises to “fix” the new law (the Senate bill) through the Budget Reconciliation process, there are no guarantees. Any “fixes”– if they did come about — would have to survive another round of Senate floor action. So it is worth recalling what the Senate bill would mean for Americans were it to become law. (more…)

Tags: Cornhusker Kickback, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Individual Mandate, Office of Personnel Management, President's proposal, public option, Senate Health Bill

VIDEO: Obamacare Doesn’t Help Young Adults

President Obama says the health care reform bills before Congress will make health insurance more affordable and accessible for young Americans. Think again.

As Heritage’s Paul Winfree explains, some of the promises the President makes are too good to be true. That truth involves higher costs and stiff penalties.

Watch Winfree’s video, and be sure to share it with others. What do you think about the President’s promises? Join the debate in our comments section below.

Tags: Individual Mandate, ObamaCare, premium increase, taxes, young adults

Outside the Beltway: Colorado Ready To Fight Obamacare Post-Passage

The House and Senate still have to iron out six key differences between their versions of the legislation before Obamacare can be signed into law. But getting past the House and Senate may just be the beginning of the plan’s problems. Not only are the attorneys general of 13 states jointly investigating whether Sen. Ben Nelson’s (D-NE) Cornhusker Kickback violates the Constitution, but multiple public interest law firms are promising to also challenge whether the scheme’s individual mandate meets constitutional muster.

Now conservative activists are adding yet another post-passage hurdle for Obamacare survive. The Denver Post reports: (more…)

Tags: Colorado, Cornhusker Kickback, Independence Institute, Individual Mandate, Obama Health Care Plan, outside the beltway

Reconciling Health Reform Taxes and Fees on Individuals and Businesses

One of the key issues the White House, House, and Senate will be negotiating behind closed doors, is how to pay for President Obama’s $2.5 trillion plan. Reconciling the differences between these two bills will remain a difficult task for legislators particularly as they rely on a different mix of revenue-generators. The following two lists include key revenue-generating mechanisms in both the House and Senate bills as reported by Tax Notes.

House-passed Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962):
– $460.5 billion over 10 years from a 5.4 percent Surtax on individuals making more than $500,000 and families earning more than $1 million (begins 2011)
– $135 billion as part of an 8 percent tax of a firm’s payroll ($750,000 or more) and a lower rate if firm payroll is between $500,000 $749,999 (begins 2013)
– $33 billion as part of a 2.5 tax on modified adjusted gross income (AGI) for those individuals that do fail to secure “acceptable” health coverage (begins 2014)
– $20 billion from a 2.5 percent excise tax on medical devices (begins 2013) (more…)

Tags: closed doors, excise tax, Flexible Spending Accounts, House surtax, Individual Mandate, Medicare Part D, Medicare Payroll tax increase

Nothing Voluntary About Obamacare’s Mandate

Some supporters of the health care “reform” bill being shoved through the Senate are dismissing concerns over the individual insurance mandate and the tax penalty imposed on those who don’t meet that requirement. They claim that because § 5000A of the bill waives criminal prosecution of taxpayers and says that no liens or levies can be filed on the taxpayer’s property, this is supposedly a “voluntary mandate” and the IRS can’t do anything against you if you refuse to pay the penalty.

That claim is wrong for a number of reasons. First of all, if you refuse to pay the penalty or you refuse to provide any information on your health care status on your tax return, you will face the prospect of being audited by the Internal Revenue Service, something that rightly scares all taxpayers, including those who are law abiding and have done everything they think they should to comply with the law. IRS tax audits are notoriously intrusive, intimidating, and expensive, and the IRS is known for its consistent inconsistency in applying its complex and Byzantine rules and regulations. (more…)

Tags: Individual Mandate, IRS, senate health care bill

Video: The Left’s Righteous War Against the Individual Mandate

As we reported last week, now that the public option is no longer part of Obamacare, President Barack Obama’s leftist base is open revolt over the bill’s requirement that all Americans must buy health insurance or pay a fine. We’ve been calling this a health insurance company bailout for months, and now Obamacare supporters like Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) are being taken to task by MSNBC hosts for the provision. Watch:

Tags: Individual Mandate, ObamaCare, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz

Video: Sen. Hatch Says Congress Is Boldly Going Where It Has Never Gone Before

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) addressed The Heritage Foundation yesterday on the unconstitutionality of congressional action that forces Americans to buy health insurance under Obamacare.

In Sen. Hatch’s opinion, that mandate would not pass muster under the Constitution, and it would be an entirely unprecedented action that is beyond the scope of Congress’ powers:

(more…)

Tags: health care, health insurance, Individual Mandate, ObamaCare, Sen. Orrin Hatch, unconstitutional

Public Support for ObamaCare Collapses under the Facts

When it comes to ObamaCare, poll after poll shows the public can be fairly supportive—until they realize how much they stand to personally lose. Americans have told pollsters for months about fears that their health coverage will disappear. They’re also reporting unprecedented concern that health reform will only add to the nation’s out-of-control federal deficits. And no matter how much the Administration says other people will pay for health reform (i.e., the rich), the American people know better.

Republican pollster Bill McInturff agrees. He told us at a health care press chat that Heritage regularly hosts: “In the broader context, there is heightened concern about general government and the page of government spending. And health care spending isn’t some huge abstract from those issues – it’s directly connected.” (more…)

Tags: health reform, Individual Mandate, public opinion, public option

Moffit in National Review

At What Cost To Freedom?
Obama’s individual mandate is a bad idea

ROBERT MOFFIT

In his address to Congress, President Obama made clear that he and his allies know how to spend your health-care money better than you do. It’s a matter, you see, of “shared responsibility”: You share your dollars with the feds, and the feds are responsible for making your decisions. In the health-care bill currently before the House (H.R. 3200), there is even a “Health Choices Commissioner,” to be appointed by the president, who will rigorously define your choices.

On “shared responsibility,” the president brooks no dissent. “Unless everybody does their part, many of the insurance reforms we seek — especially requiring insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions — just can’t be achieved,” he said. “That’s why under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance.” This requirement is known as the “individual mandate.”

The president’s proposal is historic — though not in a good way. Never before has Congress forced Americans to buy a private good or service. In fact, for those with a traditional understanding of the Constitution as a charter of liberty (as opposed to the “living” version), the list of Congress’s powers in Article I, Section 8, grants it no authority to require any such thing.
(more…)

Tags: HR 3200, Individual Mandate, National Review