Hully Gee, just imagine that!
Posted on 03/26/2010 6:10:34 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Congress passed the bill without knowing what was in it. Barack Obama signed it without reading it. Now it looks as though the Associated Press reported on ObamaCare without comprehending its content. Readers will have to scroll far down to discover that the elimination of a key tax break that kept retirees on company prescription-medication plans will mean dumping millions of seniors onto Medicare — and that the AP ignored it until now:
The health care overhaul will cost U.S. companies billions and make them more likely to drop prescription drug coverage for retirees because of a change in how the government subsidizes those benefits.
In the first two days after the law was signed, three major companies — Deere & Co., Caterpillar Inc. and Valero Energy — said they expect to take a total hit of $265 million to account for smaller tax deductions in the future.
With more than 3,500 companies now getting the tax break as an incentive to keep providing coverage, others are almost certain to announce similar cost increases in the weeks ahead as they sort out the impact of the change.
Figuring out what it will mean for retirees will take longer, but analysts said as many as 2 million could lose the prescription drug coverage provided by their former employers, leaving them to enroll in Medicare’s program.
Over the past year, I’ve repeatedly warned about the dangers of static tax analysis. That process considers changes in tax policy without considering its impact on behavior. The closure of this “loophole,” as Robert Gibbs called it yesterday, is a perfect example of this stunted thinking.
The Democrats in Congress argued that they would gain $5.4 billion in revenue by eliminating the tax break enacted in the 2003 Medicare Part D program as an incentive for businesses to keep their retirees out of the Medicare system. Instead, they have given businesses a reason to dump their retirees out of the private networks and into the Part D system now. Not only will the expected tax revenues never appear, but now we will have to spend a lot more money covering those prescriptions out of public funds. The seniors in these programs will suffer most of all, as the Part D coverage is vastly inferior to the private plans offered by businesses in the private sector.
Who could have foreseen this? Well, businesses have been trying to get attention to this problem for months, as the AP somewhat belatedly reports:
Industry groups say they lobbied hard against the change in the tax rules before it was added to the health care law over the winter.
“It was in all of our letters and communications that went up to the Hill, and the companies were heavily involved in that,” said Dena Battle, a tax specialist with the National Association of Manufacturers.
Nationwide, companies would take a $14 billion hit on their financial statements if all of the roughly 3,500 companies receiving the subsidies continued to do so, according to a study by Towers Watson, a human resources consulting firm.
For months, businesses have warned about the problem, and for months, Democrats have claimed this clause as a $5.4 billion revenue source. One might think that the media would be interested in puncturing some bad assumptions. Apparently not.
ObamaCare is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. Sorry Forrest.
These were not unintended consequences but intentional harm to Americans.
The list, ping
Some of us tried to warn the OBoZo voters and supporters, but ...
The new slogan of the marxist in chief: Hope in Chains.
No doubt this was no considered in what was put in front of the cbo for scoring maobamacare.
This is going to literally be the straw that breaks the camels back in this nation. God help us all.
Yep...all part of the plan.
Designed to force companies to drop retirees and cause retirees to clamor for single payer.
Hully Gee, just imagine that!
being one of those retirees...with health issues requiring expensive medication...well i can not (at this time) say what i really feel
America — a great idea, didn’t last.
OK Republicans: RUN ON REPEAL!!
My father never had any misbillings from his medical insurance provider until they created Medicare, and the he found misbilling after misbilling coming in from Medicare.
I find it incomprehensible why the Democrats wanted to do this ~ it's totally irrational. Only insane people could have done this ~ brutal, evil, insane idiots.
Obama hates America just like Oprah. They both agreed that to change it it must destroyed.
Well, it is past time to demand that Obama account for his documents, and; all the lawyers he hides behind must be identified. Hell, fools voted for a man who hates America.
I guess we’ll all just have to go out and collect medicinal herbs for seniors.
It is still legal isn’t it?
Morissey, you should be smarter than that.
This is unreal.
If this stands, Americans have been duped more effectively than the Russians and the East Germans were once by the Communists. Please tell me that I am hallucinating. This is exactly what happened in the pseudo democracies established at Yalta by Saint FDR in Eastern Europe. Nominal opposition parties that always lost the vote while the murderous Communists ruled as the RAT Party is ruling today.
Wonderful! Obozo gives this benefit to the world out of the kindness of his heart, and the evil, evil, capitalist, bosses reward the workers by discontinuing their healthg plans. Democrats are nice, Republicans are evil.
Was it Monte Python or someone else who had that skit talking about chocolates with things like frogs, springs, and other horrible, painful things inside? Seems like Mad Magazine has featured painful chocolates in the past, as well. Obamacare is like those chocolates, not the innocent chocolates that Forrest Gump liked.
When the seniors find they are cut off, the RATS will tell them it is because of greedy corporations. The uninformed ones will believe the lies, so more votes for RATS.
I try to avoid msnbc like the plaque but sometimes watch to see what the enemy is up to. They have trotted out this dweeb with a lisp called ezra klein as being some expert on health care. This fool is about35 at best and the nonsense he spouts is staggering.
It dawned on me that these are the people making these laws and running the govt now! I have not had such a sickening feeling in a llloooonnngggg time.
The Obamacare nightmare is begining, the MSM will run cover for him as long as they can but there will be a tipping point when either the actual red ink over runs everything and there is economic collapse or when people are literally dying because they cannot get the services they need.
Liberal idiots account for none of the consequences of their actions next up blame the busninesses for not eating the cost over runs, blame the doctors and Drug companies for charging money for their goods and services, everyone will be the victim and Nancy Pelosi will stand their with her smug smile and say this was only a stepping stone we obvisously need to take more government control.
Makes more people dependent on the government. Now why do you suppose they'd want to do that?
/sarc off
There goes AARP’s profits.
You knocked the ball out of the park with that statement.
We need to throw out the looters before they destroy this country.
We were not duped. Obama was clear from day one what he was about. The only issue is whether people were honest or not believing what so very obvious to many of us.
Death Lazer that is!!!
I doubt that either the Bible or the Constitution have much meaning for Zero.
You can be sure; they did it for a reason from which they benefit.
Some people have lying in their DNA
The maoist is one of them.
Very simple. EVIL
http://tinyurl.com/chaput100326
Read this column in which Archbishop Charles Chaput lashes out at the fake Catholic groups, but fails to mention the Catholic bishops themselves, who knowingly worked to hand over health care to Obama, Pelosi, Kathleen Sebelius, etc., etc.
What about the Tricare health ins for the Military/retired Military? Did they get it taken out?
Couldn’t agree more but am frustrated as don’t know what to do about it. I keep hoping and praying that someone or group with the horsepower will come along and expose them to save our Country.
The overwhelming majority of them have not, in fact, read any of the legislation. All the Democrats are still pumping out the talking points from last Spring regarding inquiries on the bill's text.
It is entirely possible that the Democrats are as utterly stupid as we have imagined them to be.
Frankly, we cannot let these pukes out of our sight.
Exactly.
No excuse for anyone voting for him and then saying they didn't know.
He said it all - it's all on tape.
But people didn't have time to listen and learn - hey, American Idol's on!
I came to the conclusion that maobama was a radical communist based on the youtube clips that emerged wherein he said the constitution is fatally flawed because it did not accomplish economic redistribution of wealth as well as the clip on cap and trade.
Even today it infuriates me to watch some news shows and realize that I personally know far more about maobamas radical past and on record statements and positions than do these multimillionare hosts and anchors.
Too bad. As a physician, I liked the retirees who had supplemantal insurance, because I knew I’d get paid fairly for my services. Now companies will drop the extra insurance and leave the retirees with just medicare. The result? Fewer docs will take pennies on the dollar with medicare and the oldsters will have to drive a long way for their care, or stand in line, or just drop dead.
I can only imagine the despair most docs feel right now.
FFFFUUUUBBBBOOOO!!!!
Congratualtions the news media watch dogs.
Always looking out for the poor and old folks, right?
I want to opt out of all of this...is there a way?
Move off shore?
I was watching Greta Van Susteren Monday night. She listened to a guest talking about some of the evils of 0bamacare and asked where the Republicans were. They should have read the bill and told everybody. Yo, Greta, maybe the press and media, including yourself, could have helped a bit.
There was enough known as was such to defeat this insanity wo going into every detail.
Just think of the willfull ignorance of those around you who refused to see the reality of what maobamacae means.
We are living in a dangerous cult of personality where what obama says is considered more credoible than even what is writtern in these laws and what he does.
It like the twilight zone.
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