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How Obamacare Is Constricting the Economy

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Photo Credit: TownHallWhile the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ jobs report this week contained mostly good news, our economic statistics have been shaky over the past few months. A major downward revision to economic gowth has a report showing that the economy contracted by almost 3% last quarter.

It’s possible that Obamacare is holding back the economy. Jared Meyer, policy analyst at Economics 21, wrote about how Obamacare’s hurting economic growth:

The Employer Mandate. The Act originally required businesses with over 49 full-time equivalent employees to offer insurance that met government requirements by January 1, 2014, but President Obama has delayed the mandate. Once implemented, if employers decide not to offer coverage, they will face fines of $2,000 per worker (the first 30 workers are exempt). This penalty is effectively over $3,000 since it is not tax deductible. Going from 49 to 50 workers will cost a business an additional $60,000.

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Another Obamacare Success Story: HHS Says It Can’t Verify U.S. Citizenship Of 1.3 Million Enrollees

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Photo Credit: IJ Review During his State of the Union speech in 2009, President Barack Obama said that Obamacare would not cover illegal immigrants. Congressman Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) famously heckled at Obama, “You lie!” in response.

Well, it turns out that Congressman Wilson may have been right. A new Department of Health and Human Services report finds that nearly 1.3 million who signed up for Obamacare through Obamacare.gov cannot verify whether or not they are in the country legally.

From Breitbart News:

A devastating new Health and Human Services (HHS) Inspector General report released on Tuesday reveals that the Obama administration has yet to determine whether 1,295,571 of the over 8 million Obamacare enrollees are U.S. citizens lawfully in the country.

Read more from this story HERE.

We've Crossed The Tipping Point; Most Americans Now Receive Government Benefits

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Photo Credit: CarbonNYCObamacare has pushed us over the entitlements tipping point. In 2011 some 49.2 percent of U.S. households received benefits from one or more government programs—about 151 million out of an estimated 306.8 million Americans—according to U.S. Census Bureau data released last October.

Currently, around 6 million to 7 million Americans who have signed up for Obamacare are receiving taxpayer-provided subsidies (though the administration’s numbers cannot be trusted, it’s all we have to work with). There are another 3 million who have signed up for Medicaid.

That means some 10 million Americans—or a total of about 161 million—are now getting government subsidies (though the final number might be somewhat lower since some may have been receiving benefits already).

Thus, perhaps 52 percent of U.S. households—more than half—now receive benefits from the government, thanks to President Obama. And Mr. Entitlement is just getting started. If Obamacare is not repealed millions more will join the swelling rolls of those dependent on government handouts.

Read more from this story HERE.

Guess Who Obamacare Helps (While Regular People Get Screwed)

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Kevin LamarqueObamacare is looking better than ever for the biggest insurance companies, and they’re prioritizing boosted earnings over expanding Obamacare coverage, according to a memo from Moody’s Investor Service.

Moody’s is optimistic about insurers’ credit ratings, noting that more insurers are expected to join Obamacare exchanges or offer more plans — and fewer enrollees for each insurer is likely to be beneficial, given early reports that Obamacare customers’ are sicker and costlier to insure than other insurance pools.

“Since the policy-buying population has an unknown medical status and potentially unfavorable risk characteristics, less membership, and therefore less risk, is credit positive,” Moody’s concluded.

And insurers aren’t prioritizing actually expanding health coverage to many more people, according to the report. Large insurers are boosting their premiums after generally losing money or breaking even with their first year of customers, according to the report.

“The premium increases show that insurers have chosen to protect earnings margins rather than push membership growth,” Moody’s wrote.

Read more from this story HERE.

Backpack Found Containing 400 Health-Exchange Enrollees’ Information, May Be Compromised

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Photo Credit: loststreet2010 / Creative Commons The personal information of around 400 health-exchange enrollees may be compromised, according to a statement issued today by Access Health CT CEO Kevin Counihan.

The statement notes that a backpack was recovered in Hartford that held “four notepads with personal information for approximately 400 individuals. The backpack also contained Access Health CT paperwork and it appears as though some of that personal information may be associated with Access Health CT accounts. It is still unclear where the backpack came from, and we are working [with] the Hartford Police Department to investigate, and contact the individuals whose information may be compromised. … Let me be clear: we are sorry this happened. This is a very serious situation and we will hold the person or persons who are responsible to account.”

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One-Fourth of Total Obamacare Enrollees Have “Data Discrepancies”

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Photo Credit: TownHallThe president’s much-assailed health care law is once again roiled in controversy. According to a government document obtained exclusively by the Associated Press, a reported two million Affordable Care Act “enrollees” have signed up for the program even though their personal information is incorrect. As a result, some consumers might find themselves owing money to the government if they received overly generous subsidies. Others still might find themselves without coverage entirely. The AP reports:

A government document provided to The Associated Press says more than 2 million people who got health insurance under President Obama’s law have data discrepancies that could jeopardize coverage for some.

Two million people works out to about one out of four who signed up, creating a huge paperwork headache for the feds, and exposing some consumers to repayment demands if they got too generous a subsidy — or even loss of coverage.

Read more from this story HERE.

Front-Runner To Head VA Predicts Obamacare Will Lead To Single-Payer

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Jason ReedThe first name to emerge as the favored choice to head the Department of Veterans Affars previously predicted that Obamacare will eradicate employer-based insurance and push the U.S. towards a single-payer system “like they have in England”.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Dr. Delos “Toby” Cosgrove, who heads the Cleveland Clinic, is being heavily sought by the Obama administration to replace Gen. Eric Shinseki, who was forced out last week amid the VA wait list scandal.

Cosgrove, who is a Vietnam veteran, has served as head of the clinic since 2004. Touted as a world-class facility, both Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney praised the 42,000 employee clinic during the 2012 presidential debates for its high-quality, low-cost health care.

The Journal reported that three sources confirmed that the Obama administration is interested in Cosgrove. Two others confirmed that Cosgrove was interested in the position.

In a 2012 interview, also with the Wall Street Journal, Cosgrove predicted that Obamacare would dismantle the employer-based insurance system and would eventually lead to a single-payer system.

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New Study: Obamacare Will Actually INCREASE the Number of Uninsured

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Photo Credit: IJ Review A new study was released which shows that Obamacare will both increase the cost of health insurance and increase the number of uninsured.

From Conservative Hideout:

Nationally, we estimate an initial decrease in the uninsured with greater use of the private health insurance subsidies, but over time health plan prices are likely to increase faster than the value of the insurance subsidy. As a result of the declining purchasing power of the insurance subsidy, the implementation of the qualified health plan requirements and the end of the reinsurance and risk corridor programs we estimate a significant reduction in the private insurance market in 2017 with steady declines continuing for the rest of the decade.

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Senate GOP: HHS May Have Purposely Misled on Obamacare Subsidies

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Photo Credit: APA trio of top Senate Republicans have asked the Health and Human Services Department’s inspector general to look at whether the agency misrepresented its ability to verify Obamacare consumers’ incomes and issue the correct amount in subsidies to help them buy coverage on the new health exchanges.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said in a letter to Inspector General Daniel Levinson that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ prior assurances to Capitol Hill are not proving true.

“We have long been concerned that Obamacare, with its complex eligibility process and access to enormous taxpayer resources, presents a grave risk for improper, inaccurate, and even fraudulent payments,” they wrote. “Those concerns were further heightened last summer when [HHS] issued regulations that would permit individuals to self-attest to their eligibility for subsidies under certain circumstances.”

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Unions, Employers Square Off Over ObamaCare Costs in Collective Bargaining

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Photo Credit: FOXNEWS.COMDisputes between unions and employers over paying for new costs associated with the Affordable Care Act are roiling labor talks nationwide.

Unions and employers are tussling over who will pick up the tab for new mandates, such as coverage for dependent children to age 26, as well as future costs, such as a tax on premium health plans starting in 2018. The question is poised to become a significant point of tension as tens of thousands of labor contracts covering millions of workers expire in the next several years, with ACA-related cost increases ranging from 5 percent to 12.5 percent in current talks.

In Philadelphia, disagreement over how much workers should contribute to such health-plan cost increases has stalled talks between the region’s transit system and its main union representing 5,000 workers as they try to renegotiate a contract that expired in March.

Roughly 2,000 housekeepers, waiters and others at nine of 10 downtown Las Vegas casinos voted this month to go on strike June 1 if they don’t reach agreements on a series of issues, the thorniest of which involve new ACA-related cost increases, according to the Unite Here union.

Flight attendants at Alaska Airlines voted down a tentative contract agreement with management in February, in part because it didn’t provide enough protection against a possible surge in ACA-related costs, union members said. They are still without a new contract.

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