Fix Health Care Policy

12 Days of Obamacare Surprises: An Optional Medicaid Expansion

Not all surprises are good. When it comes to Obamacare, the original projections are turning into unfortunately different realities. For the past 11 days, Heritage has highlighted one of the various changes in Obamacare projections (e.g., cost, enrollment, etc.) from when the law first passed until now. This Christmas morning will be the last day in this blog series and will highlight a positive Obamacare surprise.

In 2014, Obamacare expands Medicaid eligibility to able-bodied, childless adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL). If a state chose not to expand, the federal government would stop funding their existing Medicaid programs. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that by 2016, Obamacare would drive an additional 17 million Americans into Medicaid.

Thankfully, the Supreme Court ruled that Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion was unconstitutionally coercive, ensuring state that chose not to expand would not lose existing federal assistance. Due to the Court’s ruling, the CBO now estimates that 6 million less Americans will be enrolled in the failing Medicaid program in 2022.

Surprise: While additional federal funding is available to those states that expand, the states will be burdened with the true cost. At least 20 states are planning to not expand or are unlikely to expand their Medicaid programs, according to Politico. The Supreme Court’s decision dealt a major blow to Obamacare and shifted a great deal of power to the states. This Christmas, in light of Obamacare’s many other mandates and requirements, this optional part of the law is certainly something to be thankful for.

12 Days of Obamacare Surprises:

11. Unlikely deficit reduction…

10. Unelected bureaucrats on IPAB…

9. Increased employer penalties…

8. More cuts to Medicare…

7. Loss of employer-sponsored insurance…

6. A 50/50 split on enrollment estimates…

5. More uninsured Americans…

4. Increased exchange subsidies…

3. Big tax increases…

2. The small business tax credit…

1. And the individual mandate.

Tags: federal funding, mandates, Medicaid, Obamacare surprise, requirements, States, true costs

Point-By-Point: The Case Against Obamacare

Two years ago, Congress and President Obama rushed to pass the enormous 2,700-page health care law that most didn’t even have time to read. As time has passed, Heritage experts have analyzed the law and written extensively on the need for its repeal. The major components of Heritage’s Case Against Obamacare are summarized below.

Individual Mandate: Obamacare includes a requirement that everyone buy government-approved health insurance or face a penalty. This mandate is unconstitutional and violates personal liberty.  (Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: Case Against Obamacare, mandates, ObamaCare, penalties, repeal the law, unconstitutional

The Impact of Obamacare Video Series

During his 2012 State of the Union address, President Obama barely discussed his health care law. But that doesn’t mean Americans must remain in the dark about how the unpopular health law will impact each and every one of them. Heritage has compiled a series of videos that highlight how individuals and families will be affected by the new law.

Business Owners

Obamacare’s new taxes and mandates on business are a hindrance to economic growth and job creation. The law requires that employers provide health insurance to their employees or face a fine. As the cost of health insurance continues to increase under Obamacare, employers will face increasingly steep costs to keep employees insured and avoid the penalties. According to research by McKinsey and Company, close to one-third of employers says they will definitely or probably stop covering employees once Obamacare is fully implemented; this increased to 50 percent after the law had been explained to employers in greater detail.  (Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: businesses, families, individuals, mandates, ObamaCare, Seniors, State of the Union address, taxes, videos

Religious Leaders Testify for All Americans’ Liberty

Since the Obamacare anti-conscience mandate was proposed in August, the Obama Administration has come under intense scrutiny for the rule’s violation of religious liberty. In the wake of the final rule’s publication in the Federal Register yesterday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a full committee hearing yesterday to further investigate those claims, highlighting the law’s serious threat to freedom.

Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who serves as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty, began the panel testimony by telling a story, “The Parable of the Kosher Deli.” Bishop Lori’s parable drew a parallel between the mandate coercing many religious employers to pay for abortion-inducing drugs and contraceptives against their beliefs and a hypothetical situation of a government forcing all Jewish delis to serve pork sandwiches. The latter situation is clearly an absurd violation of religious freedom, and Bishop Lori’s story ended with the government rescinding the requirement to serve certain meat products and restoring Jewish deli owners’ liberty.   (Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: anti-conscience mandate, contraceptive coverage, mandates, ObamaCare, religious leaders

Obama’s Continuing Assault on the Constitution

With tens of millions of Americans watching, Barack Obama stood at the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2009, with his left hand on the Bible and his right hand held aloft, swearing to God and country that he would preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Yet despite that pledge, President Obama has time and time again taken actions contrary to the principles of the founding document he swore to uphold, setting forth on a heretofore uncharted path of unconstitutionality that will fundamentally change the character of this Republic for the worse, not for the better.

Last week, America erupted in protest against one of those actions — the White House’s determination to force all insurance plans to cover, at no charge, contraceptives, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization as part of Obamacare. That mandate includes employers like Catholic hospitals, Christian schools, and faith-based pregnancy care centers, all of which must offer the coverage, regardless of their beliefs. This assault on the First Amendment’s protection of religious liberties met with opposition from all corners, prompting the president on Friday to address the American people and pledge his commitment to protecting religious liberties by offering an “accommodation” to these institutions — forcing insurance companies to offer free contraception so religious institutions don’t have to.   (Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: accommodation, mandates, ObamaCare, religious liberties, unconstitutional

Want to Help Job Creation? Don’t Forget to Repeal Obamacare

There is an obvious omission from all the previews of the President’s upcoming speech on jobs: Obamacare.

Obamacare is perhaps the most damaging of the Administration’s policies that are impeding the country’s recovery. At a time when there should be a focus on cutting spending, reducing regulation, and lowering taxes, Obamacare does the complete opposite. It spends more, imposes costly new mandates and regulations, and raises taxes on individuals and businesses. This is no way to get the economy up and running again.  (Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: Administration, job creation, mandates, ObamaCare, raises taxes, regulations, speech

Americans Will Suffer Under New Obamacare Mandates

It’s easy to see why Obamacare’s unpopularity grows substantially with every new detail that comes out. As former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) infamously noted, we had to pass the bill to find out what was in it. Well, now we know.

Many businesses affected by Obamacare—those not lucky enough to receive the coveted waivers—now view their slimming insurance options with extreme caution.

A shocking new study out by McKinsey and Company finds that 30–50 percent of employers who currently provide health insurance for their employees are likely to drop their coverage. Yes, that’s right. Even if you like your insurance, you will not be able to keep it, as President Obama often and famously promised.

Obamacare offers subsidies to low- and middle-income workers who don’t have employer coverage while fining employers that do not offer coverage. But for employers, paying the fines will be a lot less expensive than continuing to offer coverage. As the McKinsey report correctly notes, that will still be true even if employers also pass the remaining savings (after paying the fines) onto their workers in the form of higher cash wages or other benefits such as extra vacation days or increased retirement plan contributions.  (Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: loss of coverage, mandates, ObamaCare, small businesses

Side Effects: Obamacare Hurts Low-Income Workers

With a struggling economy and stagnant unemployment rate, the last thing the United States needs is any public policy that will hurt job growth. Unfortunately, Obamacare’s new federally mandated, essential benefits package will diminish new job opportunities, especially for low-income workers.

This is expected to occur because the new law requires employers to offer health care coverage or pay a penalty. And they can’t offer basic health plans. Instead, all job-based health plans must include what the government determines to be “essential benefits.” Since benefits that employers provide to their work force mark a dollar-for-dollar reduction in cash wages, more benefits in these government-mandated plans will mean less available income for salaries or new jobs. Inevitably, this provision will further drive up the health care costs for businesses, forcing them to hold back on new hiring and investments. (more…)

Tags: essential benefits, low-income jobs, mandates, ObamaCare, Side Effects, unemployment

Obamacare vs. Limited Government

Even as Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) was telling constituents that the federal government has unlimited power to do whatever it wants, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson was saying, “Not so fast!”

What President Obama considers his crowning achievement illustrates the great divide in American politics — between those who see Washington’s power as limited only by the ability to sway voters and we who see it as limited by design in the U.S. Constitution.

Straining to find a constitutional basis for mandating that everyone must buy health insurance, Obama’s lawyers resorted to the all-purpose Interstate Commerce Clause. But as much as that overburdened clause has been stretched before, Obamacare advocates want to twist it into a brand new and bigger-than-ever shape. As Judge Hudson wrote, “Never before has the Commerce Clause and associated Necessary and Proper Clause been extended this far.” (more…)

Tags: constitutionality, interstate commerce, limited government, mandates, ObamaCare, Rep. Pete Stark

Rep. Paul Ryan: The Way Forward on Health Care Reform

While President Obama and congressional liberals have yet to come down from the high of passing their historically horrible health care legislation, conservatives are still hard at work promoting health care reform. This is because with its numerous new taxes, mandates, penalties, regulations, and new role for government, Obamacare can hardly be called reform. Instead, the recently passed law is more likely to aggravate existing problems and create new ones for our health care system, not to mention add staggering new amounts to the federal deficit.

One crusader still hard at work is Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). In an article published last week in the New York Times, Rep. Ryan writes, “To be clear: it is not sufficient for those of us in the opposition to await a reversal of political fortune months or years from now before we advance action on health care reform. Costs will continue their ascent as the debt burden squeezes life out of our economy. We are unapologetic advocates for the repeal of this costly misstep. But Republicans must also make the case for a reform agenda to take its place, and get to work on that effort now.” (more…)

Tags: greater government control, mandates, new taxes, ObamaCare, patient choice, penalties, pre-existing conditions, reform tax treatment, regulations, Rep. Paul Ryan