Obamacare Tax Dollars Pouring Into ACORN, MoveOn, LaRaza

Obamacare Tax Dollars Pouring Into ACORN, MoveOn, LaRaza – Independent Sentinel

Your Obamacare tax money is being poured into community organizations so they can enroll the uninsured in Obamacare. The obvious end-result is that they will enroll people into the Democratic Party as well.

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The Senate immigration bill does the same thing. It pays community organizations to educate immigrants on their path to citizenship and to the Democratic Party.

Sebelius did an end-run around Congress last week and solicited funds from organizations like Enroll America to help publicize Obamacare. Enroll America management is purely political. President Anne Filipic is a White House insider who networks with community organizers. She was a DNC official before she worked on Obama’s 2008 campaign in Iowa.

She manages messaging for the very community organizations who are taking our money – ACORN (exposed as corrupt but still functioning), LaRaza (the radical open borders group) and MoveOn (a radical socialist organization) are some of them. Filipic also manages the messaging for 39 Democratic members of Congress.

Obamacare requires these far-left community organization be hired as “navigators” to enroll the uninsured. Union members are also being hired as navigators and we know where they stand.

Please read about this at Investors Business Daily

The corruption doesn’t stop there. Community Organizations like ACORN are also involved in taking our money to set up Obamacare CO-OPs.

Obamacare allows for the establishment of Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP). A CO-OP is a federal program created to assist in the development of non-profit, member-run health insurance issuers. The issuers will offer qualified health plans in the individual and small group markets. Organizations participating in CO-OP programs must be non-profit entities.

Once formed at great expense to the taxpayer, they can put the co-op into the healthcare exchange to compete even though it is known they can’t compete.

Many of the people starting up the exchanges have no experience. One has experience providing the poorest service in New York. [Greta Van Susteren expose April 4]

Co-ops are fatally flawed. They can’t compete with the government-subsidized option and they can’t compete with large insurance companies. Enrollees are in charge of decisions affecting costs – no conflict of interest there. They can succeed if they move beyond what they are and join forces with other co-ops and the moon and the stars are correctly aligned in the heavens. [rwjf research]

The government has given co-ops $3.8 billion taxpayer dollars to start up though the failure rate could be about 35% to 40%. No one expects it to be 40% but they’re just mentioning it as a possibility. [The Hill]

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform under Darrell Issa would like information on the co-ops to see where our money is going. They asked in February but Sebelius failed to comply. They asked again at the end of March and have greatly expanded their probe. [Washington Examiner]

Immediately after Obamacare passed, slews of ACORN-like (Alinsky-style) co-ops formed. Heavily subsidized with tax dollars, the co-ops need not be set up by anyone who has any experience or record of success. With all the rules being thrown out by HHS, they didn’t feel the need to have any rules about this?

One of these co-ops is The Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative, an Alinsky-style ACORN group. It formed in August, 2011 at the same time the tax dollar incentive became known.

Obama gave this co-op $56 million to start up their health insurance company even though they have basically no experience in the area.

The Alinsky group is an operation out of Chicago.

…A Saul Alinsky-tied group has been awarded a $56 million federal loan to start up a nonprofit health insurance company – one of several organizations across the country this week tapped to launch a new network of insurers under the sponsorship of the federal health care overhaul.

The Wisconsin group, Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative, was awarded the funding on Tuesday. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the group is expected to provide coverage statewide within five years after starting on a smaller scale in early 2014… Read more: Fox News

If this isn’t ripe for corruption, I don’t know what is. This is what happens when a community organizer becomes president.

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IRS Scandal Raises Fears About Enforcing Obamacare (Byron York)

IRS Scandal Raises Fears About Enforcing Obamacare – Byron York

The Internal Revenue Service scandal would be bad enough if the IRS just handled issues like collecting income taxes and granting nonprofit status. But the immensely powerful federal agency is about to become even more powerful with the arrival of national health care, and that makes the still-unfolding scandal even more troubling.

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“When I hold town meetings, a great deal of distrust comes through about the size and increasing power of government,” says Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa. “The IRS targeting crystallizes that distrust in a very big way because of the IRS’ reach into taxpayer information. What’s happened heightens fears about how the IRS will handle taxpayer information and wield its power when it enforces Obamacare starting next year.”

The IRS is critical to Obamacare. The structure created by the Affordable Care Act requires the government to know about both the health care coverage (or lack of it) and the financial resources of every American. The IRS, which already knows the latter, was the only agency with the reach to do the job.

A look at the text of the health care law reveals that much of it consists of amending the Internal Revenue Code to give the IRS more power. When Obamacare goes fully into effect in January, every American will have to prove to the IRS that he or she has “qualifying” health coverage, meaning coverage with a list of features approved by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. That will be done by submitting a document to the IRS, something like a W-2, to confirm coverage.

The IRS will also decide who is, and who is not, eligible for Obamacare’s subsidies. The law authorizes the IRS to share confidential taxpayer information with the Department of Health and Human Services for the purpose of determining those subsidies. And since subsidies don’t just apply to a relatively small number of the nation’s poorest citizens – under the law, they can go to a family of four with a household income of nearly $90,000 – they will affect a huge segment of the population.

In addition, the IRS will keep track of even the smallest changes in Americans’ financial condition. Did you get a raise recently? You’ll need to notify the IRS; it might affect your subsidy status. Have your hours been reduced at work? Notify the IRS. Change jobs? Same.

Last August, IRS official Nina Olson testified before Congress on the changes Obamacare will bring to Americans’ dealings with the nation’s tax collector. “Do you believe that most Americans are going to update the IRS or state exchanges when they change jobs, get married, move states, whatever?” Michigan Republican Rep. Tim Walberg asked Olson.

“I think it’s going to be a very great learning curve,” Olson answered. If Americans don’t keep the IRS up to date on their financial status, they might incur penalties, which the IRS will collect by withholding income tax refunds. “I think it will be a surprise to taxpayers if they don’t update their information,” Olson said.

And now the IRS has been exposed abusing its authority for apparently partisan purposes. At the height of the Tea Party movement, IRS officials applied special scrutiny to organizations with “Tea Party” or words like “patriot” in their names when those groups applied for tax-exempt status.

At his brief news conference Monday, President Obama sought to assure Americans that he will correct the situation. “If, in fact, IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that had been reported on and were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that’s outrageous and there’s no place for it,” Obama said before heading to New York City for a series of fundraisers.

In the next few weeks, the details of the IRS’ apparent misconduct will be spelled out in a series of hastily arranged congressional hearings. Most of the discussion will focus on political nonprofits and the selective treatment they received from the IRS. For millions of Americans, the hearings will do what Charles Grassley noticed at those town meetings in Iowa: reduce their faith that the federal government will treat them fairly.

And that will mean even more anxieties about the coming of Obamacare. “Now every American understands there are elements of the IRS that go off on their own,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told MSNBC Monday morning. “Why would you trust the bureaucracy with your health if you can’t trust the bureaucracy with your politics?”

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Thanks Barack… Insurers Predict 100%-400% Obamacare Rate Explosion

Insurers Predict 100%-400% Obamacare Rate Explosion – Washington Examiner

Internal cost estimates from 17 of the nation’s largest insurance companies indicate that health insurance premiums will grow an average of 100 percent under Obamacare, and that some will soar more than 400 percent, crushing the administration’s goal of affordability.

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New regulations, policies, taxes, fees and mandates are the reason for the unexpected “rate shock,” according to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which released a report Monday based on internal documents provided by the insurance companies. The 17 companies include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Kaiser Foundation.

The report found that individuals will face “premium increases of nearly 100 percent on average, with potential highs eclipsing 400 percent. Meanwhile, small businesses can expect average premium increases in the small group market of up to 50 percent, with potential highs over 100 percent.”

One company said that new participants in the individual market could see a premium increase of 413 percent when new requirements on age rating and required benefits are taken into account, said the report. “The average yearly cost for a new customer in the individual market grows from $1,896 to $3,708 — a $1,812 cost increase,” it added.

The key reasons for the surge in premiums include providing wider services than people are now paying for and adding less healthy people to the rolls of insured, said the report.

It concluded: “Despite promises that the law will lower costs, [Obamacare] will in fact cause the premiums of many Americans to spike substantially. The broken promises are numerous, and the empirical data reveal that many Americans, from recent college graduates to older adults, will not be able to afford the law’s higher costs.”

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Obama Says $1 Trillion In Obamacare Spending Is… Wait For It… An Historic Tax Cut

Obama: $1 Trillion In Obamacare Spending Is Historic ‘Tax Cut’ – Washington Examiner

As part of a Mothers’ Day weekend defense of his signature legislative accomplishment, President Obama claimed that the law represented the “largest health care tax cut for working families and small businesses in our history.“

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His argument was a Hail-Mary effort to redesignate subsidies for individuals to purchase health insurance on government-run exchanges as a “tax cut.” But according to the Congressional Budget Office, these subsidies actually qualify as more than $1 trillion in “Exchange Subsidies and Related SPENDING.” (Emphasis mine.)

Far from being a historic tax cut, Obamacare actually qualifies as one of the largest tax increases in history. It contains roughly $1 trillion in taxes – on insurance plans, medical devices and investment income. And many of the taxes will end up falling on the middle class. The law’s individual mandate, which the Obama administration successful argued was a tax before the U.S. Supreme Court, is projected to hit nearly 5 million Americans with incomes less than $60,000 by 2016.

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South Carolina House Approves Bill Criminalizing Enforcement Of Obamacare

SC House Approves Bill Criminalizing Enforcement Of Obamacare – WBCN

The South Carolina House approved a bill Wednesday criminalizing the implementation of President Obama’s health care law in the state.

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The Republican-controlled House voted 65-39 on the Freedom of Health Care Protection Act.

The act renders “null and void certain unconstitutional laws enacted by the Congress of the United States taking control over the health insurance industry and mandating that individuals purchase health insurance under threat of penalty.”

“This kind of victory occurs when the grassroots across the State come together and coalesce,” Chris Lawton, spokesman for the Greenville Tea Party, told The Greenville Post. “I could not be prouder.”

The bill declares “Obamacare” unconstitutional – despite the Supreme Court ruling last year that the Affordable Health Care Act was constitutional – and that there will be criminal penalties for enforcing the law.

Gov. Nikki Haley earlier this year said that the state will not implement the nation’s health care law.

“Connecticut expanded early under ‘Obamacare’ and just reported a $190 million Medicaid deficit – in spite of subjecting their citizens to a massive tax increase,” Haley said during the State of the State address. “California just raised taxes in part to cover their Medicaid deficit and yet needs $350 million more to pay for ‘Obamacare’ next year. That’s not us. That’s not South Carolina.”

On Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee refused to expand Medicaid eligibility to more poor adults as part of the state budget.

A 13-10 vote defeated Democrats’ attempt to insert the expansion into the Senate’s budget proposal for 2013-14. The committee is crafting its spending plan this week.

The proposal came a day after Democrats grilled Medicaid director Tony Keck on his reasons for opposing an expansion under the federal health care overhaul. But senators didn’t debate each other Thursday.

Senate Minority Leader Nikki Setlzer said a protracted debate was unnecessary since senators knew their positions.

Haley, along with House Republican, also oppose extending the government health care programs to hundreds of thousands of additional poor adults.

The House budget plan includes money for Keck’s initiatives aimed at improving health.

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Just How Ignorant Is Obama About ObamaCare?

Just How Ignorant Is Obama About ObamaCare? – Investors Business Daily

At his press conference this week, President Obama tried to reassure Americans about ObamaCare. Instead, he displayed either an incredible lack of understanding about his own law, or something far worse.

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Asked about increasing Democratic concern over what Sen. Max Baucus called a looming ObamaCare “train wreck,” Obama claimed that it’s all much ado about very little.

But almost nothing he said in defense of ObamaCare was accurate. Among his statements:

“A huge chunk of it’s already been implemented.”

In fact, all that’s been implemented so far are a few PR-friendly changes like a mandate to cover children up to age 26 and a more generous Medicare drug benefit.

Democrats put off the bulk of the law – the massive market regulations, the government-run exchanges, mandates to buy coverage, and various taxes and fees – until 2014, both to hide its true costs and to avoid any unpleasantness before the 2012 elections.

“For the 85% to 90% of Americans who already have health insurance… they don’t have to worry about anything else.”

Really? The Congressional Budget Office expects 7 million workers – and possibly as many as 20 million – will lose their employer coverage because of ObamaCare. That’s plenty to worry about.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said millions of seniors will get dumped from their private Medicare Advantage plans by 2017 thanks to sharp payment cuts required by the law.

And small businesses now providing coverage face huge rate hikes thanks to ObamaCare’s many market regulations and benefit mandates. Maryland’s biggest insurer, nonprofit CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, said ObamaCare will force rates up by 15% next year.

“The other stuff’s been implemented and it’s working fine.”

That’s only true if you ignore the fact that ObamaCare’s high-risk pools have been a disaster, attracting a third as many people as predicted while costing far more than the administration budgeted.

Or the fact that Obama had to issue more than 1,200 waivers to companies who said the law’s initial insurance market rules would have forced them to cancel coverage for millions of workers.

The overly complicated small-business tax credit has also been a bust, with only about 5% of eligible firms taking advantage of it. And so on.

“We’re going to be able to drive down costs… and that will save the country money as a whole over the long term.”

Except, Obama’s own health care number crunchers say ObamaCare will force national health spending up 7.4% in 2014, and add billions in costs over the next decade. The Congressional Budget Office says it will add massively to federal health spending.

And the architects of Obama’s reform wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine about how, despite ObamaCare, “health costs remain a major challenge.”

It all leads one to wonder: Is Obama just dangerously misinformed about ObamaCare? Or is he willfully misleading the country?

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Obamacare’s Tax Hike Train Wreck

Obamacare’s Tax Hike Train Wreck – Americans For Tax Reform

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Asked about Senator Max Baucus’s (D-Mont.) recent “train wreck” comments, President Obama today said, “A huge chunk of it [Obamacare] has already been implemented.” Unmentioned was the wave of destructive Obamacare tax increases that will begin to hit Americans during the next tax filing season and beyond:

Starting in tax year 2013:

Obamacare Surtax on Investment Income: A new, 3.8 percent surtax on investment income earned in households making at least $250,000 ($200,000 single). This tax hike results in the following top tax rates on investment income:

	Capital Gains	Dividends	Other*
2013+	23.8%	43.4%	43.4%

*Other unearned income includes (for surtax purposes) gross income from interest, annuities, royalties, net rents, and passive income in partnerships and Subchapter-S corporations. It does not include municipal bond interest or life insurance proceeds, since those do not add to gross income. It does not include active trade or business income, fair market value sales of ownership in pass-through entities, or distributions from retirement plans. (Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 87-93)

Obamacare Medicare Payroll Tax Increase:

	First $200,000 ($250,000 Married) Employer/Employee	All Remaining Wages Employer/Employee
Pre-Obamacare	1.45%/1.45% 2.9% self-employed	1.45%/1.45% 2.9% self employed
Obamacare	1.45%/1.45% 2.9% self-employed	1.45%/2.35% 3.8% self-employed

(Bill: PPACA, Reconciliation Act; Page: 2,000-2,003; 87-93)

Obamacare Medical Device Tax: Medical device manufacturers employ 409,000 people in 12,000 plants across the country. Obamacare imposes a new 2.3 percent excise tax on gross sales – even if the company does not earn a profit in a given year. In addition to killing small business jobs and impacting research and development budgets, this will make everything from pacemakers to artificial hips more expensive. (Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,980-1,986)

Obamacare High Medical Bills Tax: Before Obamacare, Americans facing high medical expenses were allowed a deduction to the extent that those expenses exceeded 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI). Obamacare now imposes a threshold of 10 percent of AGI. Therefore, Obamacare not only makes it more difficult to claim this deduction, it widens the net of taxable income. According to the IRS, 10 million families took advantage of this tax deduction in 2009, the latest year of available data. Almost all are middle class. The average taxpayer claiming this deduction earned just over $53,000 annually. ATR estimates that the average income tax increase for the average family claiming this tax benefit will be $200 – $400 per year. To learn more about this tax, click here. (Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,994-1,995)

Obamacare Flexible Spending Account Tax: The 30 – 35 million Americans who use a pre-tax Flexible Spending Account (FSA) at work to pay for their family’s basic medical needs face a new Obamacare cap of $2,500. This will squeeze $13 billion of tax money from Americans over the next ten years. (Before Obamacare, the accounts were unlimited under federal law, though employers were allowed to set a cap.) Now, a parent looking to sock away extra money to pay for braces will find themselves quickly hitting this new cap, meaning they would have to pony up some or all of the cost with after-tax dollars.

Needless to say, this tax will especially impact middle class families.

There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children. Nationwide there are several million families with special needs children and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington, D.C. (National Child Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year. Under tax rules, FSA dollars can be used to pay for this type of special needs education. This Obamacare tax provision will limit the options available to these families. (Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,388-2,389)

Starting in tax year 2014:

Obamacare Individual Mandate Non-Compliance Tax: Starting in 2014, anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance – as defined by President Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services – must pay an income surtax to the IRS. The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that six million American families will be liable for the tax, and as pointed out by the Associated Press: “Most would be in the middle class.”

In addition, 100 percent of Americans filing a tax return (140 million filers) will be forced to submit paperwork to the IRS showing they either had “qualifying” health insurance for every month of the tax year or they obtained an exemption to the mandate.

Americans liable for the surtax will pay according to the following schedule

	1 Adult	2 Adults	3+ Adults
2014	1%AGI/$95	1%AGI/$190	1%AGI/$285
2015	2%AGI/$325	2%AGI/$650	2%AGI/$975
2016	2.5%AGI/$695	2.5%AGI/$1390	2.5%AGI/$2085

Obamacare Employer Mandate Tax: If an employer does not offer health coverage, and at least one employee qualifies for a health tax credit, the employer must pay an additional non-deductible tax of $2,000 for all full-time employees. This provision applies to all employers with 50 or more employees. If any employee actually receives coverage through the exchange, the penalty on the employer for that employee rises to $3,000. If the employer requires a waiting period to enroll in coverage of 30-60 days, there is a $400 tax per employee ($600 if the period is 60 days or longer). (Bill: PPACA; Page: 345-346)

Obamacare Tax on Health Insurers: Annual tax on the industry imposed relative to health insurance premiums collected that year. The tax phases in gradually until 2018. Fully imposed on firms with $50 million in profits. (Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,986-1,993)

Starting in tax year 2018:

Obamacare Tax on Union Member and Early Retiree Health Insurance Plans: Obamacare imposes a new 40 percent excise tax on high cost or “Cadillac” health insurance plans, effective in 2018. This tax increase will most directly affect union families and early retirees, who are likely to be covered by such plans. This Obamacare tax will be levied on insurance policies whose premiums exceed $10,200 for an individual and $27,500 for a family. Middle class union members tend to be covered by such plans in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Higher threshold ($11,500 single/$29,450 family) for early retirees and high-risk professions. CPI +1 percentage point indexed. (Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,941-1,956)

Click here for a printable PDF

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Senate Republicans Push Back Against Democrats Who Want To Exempt Themselves From ObamaCare

Republican Senators Reject Idea Of Lawmaker Exemption From Obamacare – Daily Caller

Republican senators pushed back on the idea that Congress ought to receive an exemption from the health-care exchanges required under Obamacare, after Politico reported Thursday that leaders from both parties had been involved in negotiations to do just that for aides and lawmakers.

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The report says that lawmakers are concerned that if aides’ health insurance premiums are not subsidized by their employer, the federal government, they could see those costs skyrocket to levels they might not be able to pay. It is not clear if under Obamacare, the federal government would be able to do so.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina issued a terse an disapproving statement.

Obamacare is a train wreck. Congress shouldn’t be able to get out of Obamacare until everyone else does,” he said.

“I voted against imposing the new health-care law on America, but I don’t think Congress ought to be treated any differently than the rest of the country,” said Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee in a statement emailed to The Daily Caller.

Sen. Ted Cruz, a freshman Republican from Texas who has been adamant about the need to repeal the health-care law in full, wrote on Twitter that the whole country should be getting an exemption, not just Congress.

“Rather than exempt Congress from Obamacare, we ought to work on permanently exempting all of America w/ a #FullRepeal,” he tweeted Thursday morning.

Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia had a similar take.

“I am strongly opposed to any effort to exempt Congress from the ObamaCare exchanges. I have consistently called for the full repeal of ObamaCare, but as long as it is the law of the land, Congress must be subject to it,” he said in a statement.

“It’s encouraging to see that Democrats in Congress are having second thoughts about their health care law, now that its disastrous consequences are hitting close to home. I hope Democrats will now come to the table and work with us to spare all Americans from skyrocketing health insurance premiums and the rest of ObamaCare’s taxes and mandates,” he added.

“All Americans ought to be exempt from the onerous and costly provisions of Obamacare, not just a select few,” said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas in a statement emailed to TheDC. “The only way to remedy this is to repeal the bill in its entirety.”

Adam Jentleson, communications director for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, sent a number of tweets Thursday morning pushing back on the idea that lawmakers were trying to exempt themselves from Obamacare.

Jentleson tweeted a piece by Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein entitled “No, Congress isn’t trying to exempt itself from Obamacare” multiple times, writing in one tweet: “Before freaking out about a certain Politico story, please read.”

“[N]o one is discussing ‘exempting’ congressional staffers from Obamacare,” Klein wrote. “They’re discussing creating some method through which the federal government can keep making its current contribution to the health insurance of congressional staffers.”

Reid put out a statement Thursday flatly denying that there had been any such discussions.

“Senator Reid is committed to ensuring that all members of Congress and Congressional staff experience the benefits of the Affordable Care Act in exactly the same way as every other American,” said Jentleson in the statement. “He believes that this is the effect of the legislation as written, and that therefore no legislative fix is necessary. There are not now, have never been, nor will there ever be any discussions about exempting members of Congress or Congressional staff from Affordable Care Act provisions that apply to any employees of any other public or private employer offering health care.”

Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters Thursday morning during a press conference that she had been “in close contact with Mr. [House Minority Whip Steny] Hoyer as he was in any of these conversations.” Politico reported that Hoyer was involved in the conversations.

Pelosi added that she did not, however, feel that different members of Congress and aides should be treated differently under Obamacare – a fact that was highlighted in the Politico story. Under the law, committee staffers would not be required to get health care through the exchanges, while staffers in lawmakers’ offices would.

“I think that whatever the outcome is, people have to be treated the same,” Pelosi said.

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Thanks Barack… Nation’s Biggest Movie Theater Chain Cuts Workweek, Blaming ObamaCare

Nation’s Biggest Movie Theater Chain Cuts Workweek, Blaming ObamaCare – Fox News

The nation’s largest movie theater chain has cut the hours of thousands of employees, saying in a company memo that ObamaCare requirements are to blame.

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Regal Entertainment Group, which operates more than 500 theaters in 38 states, last month rolled back shifts for non-salaried workers to 30 hours per week, putting them under the threshold at which employers are required to provide health insurance. The Nashville-based company said in a letter to managers that the move was a direct result of ObamaCare.

“In addition, some managers have requested guidance on what they should tell those employees negatively impacted and, at your discretion, we suggest the following,” read the memo obtained by FoxNews.com. “To comply with the Affordable Care Act, Regal had to increase our health care budget to cover those newly deemed eligible based on the law’s definition of a full-time employee.”

“To manage this budget, all other employees will be scheduled in accord with business needs and in a manner that will not negatively impact our health care budget,” the message continues.

Regal, which had revenue of $2.8 billion in 2011, is the latest company to respond this way to the Affordable Health Care Act’s requirement that employees at companies of a certain size who work more than 30 hours per week be provided health coverage. Applebee’s and Olive Garden also scaled back the hours of workers. A handful of colleges have cut hours because of the law, including Palm Beach State College in Florida and New Jersey’s Kean University. Critics say the law is boomeranging on working folks.

“If you want to have reduced work, lower wages and economic stagnation, this is a great way to do it, said Ed Haislmaier, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

One Regal theater manager told FoxNews.com the move has sparked a wave of resignations from full-time managers who have seen their hours cut by 25 percent or more.

“In the last couple weeks, managers have been quitting on a daily basis from various locations to try and find full-time work,” said the manager, who asked not to be named. “Regal up until now has never restricted anyone to anything below 40 hours.”

The manager told FoxNews.com ObamaCare has had the unintended consequence of taking food off his table.

“Mandating businesses to offer health care under threat of debilitating fines does not fix a problem, it creates one,” he said. “It fosters a new business culture where 30 hours is now considered the maximum in order to avoid paying the high costs associated with this law.

“In a time where 40 hours is just getting us by, putting these kind of financial pressures on employers is a big step in a direction far beyond the reach of feasibility for not only the businesses, but for the employees who rely on their success,” he said.

Regal, which operates cinemas under the names Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theatres and United Artists Theaters and recently purchased Oregon-based Hollywood Theaters for $191 million, did not respond to repeated requests for comment from FoxNews.com. The publicly-traded company’s stock has risen nearly 30 percent over the last year.

In addition to the movie theater chain and several restaurants, the state of Virginia also rolled back the hours of all part-time employees back to 29 per week in February, with officials from the state claiming that the new mandate would cost the state tens of millions of dollars a year.

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The real price of Obamacare equals the stupidity of “gimme” voters

We are sinking as a nation, and one big reason is Americans who, as I say vote with their hands out. Call the gimme voters, or what will the government do for me voters, or low info voters, or just simply morons, whatever you prefer. As Matt explains, these people are stuck in the pit of  entitlements, and they are taking us down with them.

It’s a shame that so many Obama voter are suffering the consequences of their vote.  But, then again, being a “low information voter” is a choice.  The information was out there, freely available.  People could  have looked up the facts and known that they were in for it if the voted Democrat.  But, too many listened to the MSM, or their union boss, and now, they are paying the price-literally and figuratively.  FOX News has the latest example, the Regal Entertainment Group,

The nation’s largest movie theater chain has cut the hours of thousands of employees, saying in a company memo that ObamaCare requirements are to blame.

Regal Entertainment Group, which operates more than 500 theaters in 38 states, last month rolled back shifts for non-salaried workers to 30 hours per week, putting them under the threshold at which employers are required to provide health insurance. The Nashville-based company said in a letter to managers that the move was a direct result of ObamaCare.

So, that “free” health care is going to cost these workers in two ways. First, their paychecks are going to shrink. Secondly, they are STILL obligated to buy health care. Remember that individual mandate? And, with health insurance premiums rising………….well figure out who will be hit the very hardest? Yep! The little guy. Of course, I would be remiss if I did not mention that John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, massive pile of dung that he is, also bares tremendous blame. I do not not know which is worse, a fool who votes out of greed without considering the consequences, or a fool who knows what is right, and screws the Constitution and America anyway.

 

 

Actor Jake McClain Tweeting Every Word Of 906-Page ‘Obamacare’ Health Reform Law

Actor Jake McClain Tweeting Every Word Of 906-Page ‘Obamacare’ Health Reform Law – IBT

Actor and director Jake McClain has taken on the monumental task of tweeting every single word of the 906-page “Obamacare” health reform law in hopes of drawing attention to the bill’s content, which he argues is detrimental to the nation’s fiscal health.

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“Folks… this will probably take a long time to do, but I decided I will read every page, word by word, of Obamacare, and tweet every word,” he tweeted on March 22.

And he’s been on a roll ever since, making it through the first 22 pages of the lengthy legislation in just four days. He tweeted Monday night that he would begin to tweet out the 23rd page on Tuesday morning, and the effort is drawing attention and admiration from many critics of the law.

He has already landed a spot on Mike Huckabees’s radio show, which is slated to air at 2:32 p.m. Tuesday, and he is receiving a steady flow of supportive messages from top critics of the law – officially called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act but often referred to as “Obamacare” – from across the twitterverse.

McClain is endeavoring on the Herculean task in order to draw attention to the bill’s contents, which, by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s own admission, were famously not read by most if not all members of Congress who voted to pass it by a margin of 219-212 exactly three years ago Thursday.

McClain sees the task as more than just an exercise in stamina, saying that he hopes he can use his platform as a means to draw attention to many of the controversial parts of the law, which fundamentally and controversially redrew the American health care paradigm.

“Thing is that this is for everyone… A scant few read this sucker. If numbers read it, the story changes,” he tweeted Monday night, adding later: “And if we keep reading and tweeting these pages, we can get enough people to hit their senators up on this thing.”

McClain admits that he’s going to have to keep up the Twitter barrage for a long time in order to get through all 906 pages of the “Obamacare” law.

“November 4th if I go 4 pages a day. I did 5 today… keep going up and it’ll be about middle of October,” he tweeted in reference to how long it will take him to tweet the entirety of the legislation.

Still McClain maintains that he has the stamina and attention span to make it to the end of the law because he is only tweeting it bit by bit.

“No because I do a couple pages at a time and quit. Promote it on off times,” he tweeted Tuesday morning.

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Top Ten ObamaCare Horror Stories The Media Are Covering Up

Top Ten ObamaCare Horror Stories The Media Are Covering Up – Big Journalism

Because the mainstream media lobbied every bit as hard as Obama to win passage of ObamaCare, they are every bit as invested in doing whatever is necessary to see that it is perceived as a success. Unfortunately for Americans who expect truth from their media, this means the media are having to manufacture a false reality that says ObamaCare is, to steal a phrase, “doing fine.”

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In order to manufacture this phony reality, the media must further sell their blackened soul by violating one of their most cherished principals: reporting on how government policy hits America’s weakest the hardest. It’s just a fact that the worst fallout of ObamaCare is already landing hard on the working class, who are losing work hours, jobs, and their insurance.

Usually when a government policy hits the working class, the media will fall all over themselves to “tell their personal stories.” But not these people. The media perceives these poor souls as sacrifices to a bigger cause known as The State.

So with that in mind, I present to you (with big hat tips to Drudge and Investors Business Daily) the top ten ObamaCare horror stories the media is willfully covering up.

In no particular order…

1. Millions are and will lose the insurance Obama promised they could keep. Because ObamaCare forces employers to offer expensive Cadillac plans but also offers the option of paying a fine for not providing health insurance that can be cheaper than providing it, between seven and twenty million Americans are likely to lose their health insurance coverage according to the Congressional Budget Office. The original estimate was closer to four million.

2. The cost of healthcare premiums is about to further skyrocket. Premium costs have already exploded, but that is a slow-motion explosion. In the near future, we could see costs double or worse. Naturally, these costs will hit an already burdened middle class hardest.

3. Lost jobs. Lost jobs.

The Federal Reserve’s March beige book on economic activity noted that businesses “cited the unknown effects of the Affordable Care Act as reasons for planned layoffs and reluctance to hire more staff.”

Meanwhile, human resources consulting firm Adecco found that half of the small businesses it surveyed in January either plan to cut their workforce, not hire new workers, or shift to part-time or temporary help because of ObamaCare.

4. Potential doctor shortages that will mean rationing: The healthcare industry is already a bureaucratic quagmire. ObamaCare is about to add steroids. As the profession becomes tyrannized by government, the talented people currently practicing medicine plan to get out sooner than expected. Who knows how many will choose not to get in.

Doctor shortages are what lead to the nightmare known as rationed care. Here’s an unsettling example already being practiced.

5. Somewhere around $800 billion in tax increases will hit America’s middle class. This added burden will not only further oppress a middle class already reeling from a drop in wages over the last few years, but could damage the overall economy.

6. Inflation, the cruelest tax on the poor. When businesses get socked with added costs brought about by higher taxes and burdensome government mandates, they pass those cost along to the consumer in the form of higher prices.

7. Added bureaucracy. Even those Obama lapdogs over at the Washington Post’s Wonk Blog are admitting that applying for health care is about to get more burdensome than the byzantine paperwork involved in buying a home.

8. To cut costs or to avoid having to provide insurance, workers on the economic margins are already losing hours, which means a lower paycheck. There are a million sad stories in ObamaVille; here are just a few of them.

9. ObamaCare is projected to add $6.2 TRILLION to a deficit the GAO has already declared “unsustainable.” That’s “trillion” with a “t”.

10. More taxes than currently estimated are likely to hit because of situations like this one.

Three years ago, Obama, Democrats, and his media lied to us about cutting the cost of health care, being able to keep our insurance, and not taxing the middle class.

Today, those lies and what ObamaCare is and will do to the working and middle class are the biggest untold story in America.

The media is currently engaged in an ObamaCare cover-up every bit as big, corrupt, and damaging as the ongoing Libya cover up.

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Thanks Barack… Health Insurers Warn That Obamacare Could Cause Premiums To Jump By 116%

Good News: Health Insurance Companies Privately Warning Premiums Could Jump By As Much As 116% Because Of Obamacare – Weasel Zippers

Once Obamacare has fully kicked in and Americans are slapped out of their stupor we should be able to bludgeon Democrats with it in 2014 and 2016.

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Via WSJ:

Health insurers are privately warning brokers that premiums for many individuals and small businesses could increase sharply next year because of the health-care overhaul law, with the nation’s biggest firm projecting that rates could more than double for some consumers buying their own plans.

The projections, made in sessions with brokers and agents, provide some of the most concrete evidence yet of how much insurance companies might increase prices when major provisions of the law kick in next year – a subject of rigorous debate.

The projected increases are at odds with what the Obama Administration says consumers should be expecting overall in terms of cost. The Department of Health and Human Services says that the law will “make health-care coverage more affordable and accessible,” pointing to a 2009 analysis by the Congressional Budget Office that says average individual premiums, on an apples-to-apples basis, would be lower.

The gulf between the pricing talk from some insurers and the government projections suggests how complicated the law’s effects will be. Carriers will be filing proposed prices with regulators over the next few months.

Part of the murkiness stems from the role of government subsidies. Federal subsidies under the health law will help lower-income consumers defray costs, but they are generally not included in insurers’ premium projections. Many consumers will be getting more generous plans because of new requirements in the law. The effects of the law will vary widely, and insurers and other analysts agree that some consumers and small businesses will likely see premiums go down. [...]

In a private presentation to brokers late last month, UnitedHealth Group Inc., the nation’s largest carrier, said premiums for some consumers buying their own plans could go up as much as 116%, and small-business rates as much as 25% to 50%. The company said the estimates were driven in part by growing medical costs not directly tied to the law. It also cited the law’s requirements that health status not affect rates and that plans include certain minimum benefits and limits to out-of-pocket charges, among other things.

Keep reading…

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Senator Ted Cruz: Let’s See if Obama Is Willing To Shut Down The Government To Fund Obamacare

Cruz: Let’s See if Obama’s Willing To Shutdown Gov’t To Fund Obamacare – CNS

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced an amendment on Wednesday that would cut off all funds for Obamacare, a step he said Republicans should support and, if it were to pass in the House as well, could be sent to President Barack Obama to see if he’s “willing to try to shut the government down” over funding of the Affordable Care Act.

“I think it’s the right position for Republicans to be taking,” Cruz told CNSNews.com. “And I think it would be exactly the right decision to then send it back to Harry Reid and President Obama and ask if Harry Reid and President Obama are willing to try to shut the government down in order to insist that Obamacare be fully funded now, even though it could well push us into a recession.”

“I think that is an important stand for principle that makes a difference in the lives of those who are struggling the most,” said the senator.

On Wednesday, Cruz introduced his de-fund Obamacare amendment to the continuing resolution (CR), which is a massive “must-pass” bill to keep the government funded for the rest of this fiscal year, from late March through the end of September.

Last week, the Republican-controlled House passed a $982-billion CR, but the GOP leadership set the rule and did not allow the must-pass CR to include language prohibiting funding for Obamacare or for de-funding the controversial Obamacare mandate that requires nearly all health plans to offer contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs without co-payments.

Though he said he does not expect his amendment to pass in the Senate, which is majority-Democrat, Cruz said it is “entirely beneficial” to have a conversation about the impact of Obamacare on economic growth.

He also encouraged House Republicans to “stand for principle” and force the president and the Senate to shut down the government over funding the health care law.

During a press conference on Capitol Hill, CNSNews.com asked Cruz why the Republicans in the House did not attempt to defund the law.

“You just said this amendment isn’t likely to pass because the Republicans don’t control the Senate,” CNSNews.com asked. “But the Republicans control the House. And they decided to not try to defund Obamacare in the CR. Why do you think they didn’t put that in and do you think they should have?”

“Well, legislation can be an iterative process,” Cruz said. “And one of the benefits, I believe, of debating and voting on this amendment today is that if Republicans stand together – I hope we will – there is a very good chance the continuing resolution will be amended in the Senate in some way and sent back to the House.”

“So, the House is going to have another shot at this,” he said.

“And I would certainly be very encouraged if the House, when they get the continuing resolution back, made the decision to include precisely this amendment to defund Obamacare,” Cruz continued. “I think it’s the right position for Republicans to be taking.”

“And I think it would be exactly the right decision to then send it back to Harry Reid and President Obama and ask if Harry Reid and President Obama are willing to try to shut the government down in order to insist that Obamacare be fully funded now even though it could well push us into a recession,” he said.

“I think that is an important stand for principle that makes a difference in the lives of those who are struggling the most,” said Cruz.

Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), also at the press conference, said, “I would add, again to reiterate, this was the very first vote they took in the House of Representatives this year, in this Congress. And so it’s important that we make sure that we have a vote here [in the Senate] on that.”

“It’s not always easy for us in the minority to get votes that we think are important,” he said. “But it is easier for the minority in the Senate than it is in the House.”

“This is an opportunity that we have to make sure that this vote happens and it makes sense to have this vote now in connection with the CR,” Lee said.

House Republicans have symbolically voted to repeal Obamacare more than 30 times in legislation that does not need to pass. However, every time they have enacted legislation that must-pass to keep the government funded, they have declined to include language that would repeal all or any part of Obamacare or that would withhold funding for all or any part of Obamacare.

Last week, as CNSNews.com previously reported, when the Republican-controlled House took up the $982-billion continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government through September, the legislation did include language prohibiting the administration from buying foreign-made ball bearings but it did not include language limiting the implementation of Obamacare.

The CR, for example, did not include language to prevent the administration from moving forward with a regulation that requires health-care plans to provide cost-free coverage for sterilizations, contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs – a regulation that dozens of Christian organizations and businesses have sued the federal government to stop, arguing that it violates their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion.

Cruz’s amendment to the CR is called the “Restore Growth First” amendment, and it currently has 13 senatorial co-sponsors, all of them Republicans.

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*VIDEO* Jason Mattera Confronts Representative Eliot Engel Over ObamaCare

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Follow the Liberal Logic here

Liberals care about the poor, the working class, the “little” guy. They care about kids. They care, which is why they want higher taxes on the “rich”. They care about Mother Nature, so they support higher gas prices. They care, so they demand more regulation, more taxation, more government. I had a guy tell me the other day that I should have voted for Obama, because he “cares” about poor people. Hmmm, if the Left cares so much, why do their policies always impact those they “care” so much about? You know, like millions LOSING their employer insurance because of Obamacare? Or the spike in health care premiums because of Obamacare? Or the fact that those with pre-existing conditions might not be helped by Obamacare? Or paying almost $1,000 a year more for gas?

Here It Comes… States Will Under-Employ Workers To Avoid Cost Of ObamaCare

Here It Comes… States Will Under-Employ Workers To Avoid Cost Of ObamaCare – Clash Daily

The costs of Obamacare are not just hitting businesses this year – they are also hitting the government, and public employees as well. Virginia, for example, is about to limit part-time employees to 29 hours per week in order to avoid triggering Obamacare’s requirement that employers provide health insurance to those working 30 hours per week or more. The state cannot afford the $110 million annual cost of insurance.

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Elsewhere, public institutions are taking similar steps to limit part-time work. In Ohio, Youngstown State University recently announced a 29-hour-per-week part-time limit, and placed employees on notice that they would be fired if they worked more than the maximum. Other public universities are doing the same across the nation, just as their private-sector counterparts are limiting part-time hours to avoid the Obamacare rule.

In addition to limiting part-time hours, many institutions–public and private–are moving employees from full-time to part-time status to avoid Obamacare requirements. Doing so means facing the ire of left-wing institutions such as John Podesta’s Think Progress, which recently castigated a Wendy’s franchise for cutting employees’ hours. Yet there is little most businesses can do – they are merely responding to incentives written into law.

As the economic reality of Obamacare begins to bite, Democrats are uneasy with the legislation they forced through Congress in 2010, and which survived at the Supreme Court only because Chief Justice John Roberts saw fit to rewrite it. At a recent retreat for House Democrats, former President Bill Clinton advised his party to lead the way in pushing for changes to Obamacare, so they could “[p]rove that we were right to do it.”

Read more: Breitbart.com

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*VIDEO* Jason Mattera Confronts Leftist Representative Jim McDermott Over Obamacare

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Thanks Barack… California Facing Doctor Shortage Amid Obamacare Implementation

California Facing Doctor Shortage Amid Obamacare Implementation – Daily Caller

California, the state that first attempted to implement President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, has realized there aren’t enough doctors to care for the large influx of newly insured patients.

The Los Angeles Times reports that only 16 of the state’s 58 counties meet the federal government’s recommended standard of primary care physicians, and almost 30 percent of California’s doctors are close to the retirement age – the highest percentage nationwide.

“We’re going to be mandating that every single person in this state have insurance,” Democratic state Sen. Ed Hernandez told the Los Angeles Times. “What good is it if they are going to have a health insurance card, but no access to doctors?”

Hernandez has led an effort in the state legislature to expand the definition of who can provide health care services to patients. Lawmakers have proposed allowing physician assistants to treat more patients and permitting nurse practitioners to have independent practices.

Also, pharmacists and optometrists could become primary care providers and be allowed to treat some chronic illnesses.

“We don’t have enough providers,” said Beth Haney, president of the California Association for Nurse Practitioners, “…so we should increase access to the ones that we have.”

However, proposals to expand patient treatment options have been met with resistance from doctors, who say that such reforms could jeopardize patient safety and increase costs to patients.

“Patient safety should always trump access concerns,” Dr. Paul Phinney, president of the California Medical Association, told the Times.

This fight over who can treat patients to meet the growing demand for medical services is ongoing in other states, as well. The Times reports that in the past two years, approximately 350 laws redefining what health professionals may treat have been enacted across the country, and more than 50 proposals have been put forward in 24 states since the beginning of this year.

To alleviate the problem, the California Medical Association has suggested expanding participation in a loan repayment program for medical school graduates, which now gives doctors as much as $105,000 for working for three years in under-served communities.

“We’re not going to produce thousands of additional doctors in any kind of short-term time frame,” said Democratic state Assemblyman Roger Dickinson. “It makes sense to look at changes that could relieve the pressure that we’re going to undoubtedly encounter for access to care.”

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So, who will be able to afford health insurance by the time Obamacare is fully implemented?

the premiums are going higher and higher, the tax burden is increasing, fuel prices are not going down, making everything cost more. And the regulations by the EPA will certainly spike energy prices, and now, another regulation in Obamacare will make your trips to the grocery store even more expensive

The nasty effects of Obamacare just keep on coming. Today it’s grocery stores complaining about a costly new rule that could raise the cost of doing business. As usual, those costs will be passed along to the consumers.

Supermarket owners argue a pending federal food-labeling rule that stems from the new health care law would overburden thousands of grocers and convenience store owners — to the tune of $1 billion in the first year alone.

Store owner Tom Heinen said the industry’s profit margins already are razor thin. “When you incur a significant cost, there is no way that that doesn’t get passed on to the customer in some form,” he said.

The rule stems from an ObamaCare mandate that restaurants provide nutrition information on menus. Most in the restaurant industry were supportive of the idea, but when the FDA decided to extend the provision to also affect thousands of supermarkets and convenience stores, the backlash was swift.

The proposed regulation would require store owners to label prepared, unpackaged foods found in salad bars and food bars, soups and bakery items. Erik Lieberman, regulatory counsel at the Food Marketing Institute, said testing foods for nutritional data will require either expensive software or even more costly off-site laboratory assessments.

Lieberman said failure to get it right comes with stiff penalties: ”If you get it wrong, it’s a federal crime, and you could face jail time and thousands of dollars worth of fines.” (Read More)

Well, what do you expect. the government cannot do anything without screwing it up can they? All in the name of :controlling costs” and helping the little guy. Helping the little guy to what? Get into poverty? God help us because things are just going to get worse.