Another ObamaCare mandate we had to discover after its passage

Hot Air ^ | MARCH 27, 2010 | ED MORRISSEY

[RobinMasters]

Nancy Pelosi told the public that we’d have to pass ObamaCare to find out all of the surprises Democrats had loaded into it. Since its passage, we’ve discovered a number of them, including the elimination of a tax credit that kept seniors on private medication coverage that has forced publicly-held corporations like AT&T, Caterpillar, John Deere, and Verizon to take massive charges against this year’s earnings. Earlier this week, the Associated Press discovered a new mandate, this time on chain restaurants, that is at once petty, paternalistic, and anti-growth:

A requirement tucked into the nation’s massive health care bill will make calorie counts impossible for thousands of restaurants to hide and difficult for consumers to ignore. More than 200,000 fast food and other chain restaurants will have to include calorie counts on menus, menu boards and even drive-throughs.

The new law, which applies to any restaurant with 20 or more locations, directs the Food and Drug Administration to create a new national standard for menu labeling, superseding a growing number of state and city laws. President Barack Obama was expected to sign the health care legislation Tuesday.

The idea is to make sure that customers process the calorie information as they are ordering. Many restaurants currently post nutritional information in a hallway, on a hamburger wrapper or on their Web site. The new law will make calories immediately available for most items.

[OneWingedShark]

>They post some of that stuff already on Subway stuff, doesn’t stop some one from eating a foot long, when all they should eat is a half a one.

$5 footlong! Yay!.

[EGPWS]

Don’t laugh...a whopper vale meal here in Sweden is close to $10.

Don't laugh, by the time Obama gets through with us, via the value of the dollar, it will be about $10 trillion.

[TruthConquers]

That is going to cost, and cost and cost.

It is nationwide, and fast food franchise wide, in the millions.

Which, we the people, will get to pay, in the long term.

How many jobs will that come to? Q2 earnings is going to get interesting.

[NTHockey]

Again with superceding state and local laws. I am currently asking local officials why do we need them if the federal government is making alll the rules. We surely don’t need bloated governments at multiple levels - and the money spent - if they have no authority.

It should get their attention if their jobs are at stake.

[DrC]

“Healthcare will cause many more layoffs this year

This is why the furor about ObamaCare will not die down before the election. Every day will bring news of yet another provision in this massive law that is creating unintended consequences, or news of yet another company having to take a charge against its books, or another entrepreneur angered over his/her new tax load who will report to the press that his plans for expansion or new hiring are on hold or delayed due to Obamacare.

There’s no indication the unemployment rate is going to shrink much over the next 7 months. Quite the contrary, ironically, if things get better, it’s going to encourage people now not even looking for a job (and hence artificially lowering the unemployed count) to begin doing so, at which point unemployment rate may actually RISE even if there isn’t a double-dip recession.

In short, by next November, voters are going to be steaming mad that nearly 2 years and hundreds of billions in stimulus have done NOTHING to improve the economy. They are going to be asking themselves why Congress and the president squandered great gobs of time and the public’s patience pursuing health care reform instead of single-mindedly focusing attention on the economy and jobs. As Obama’s State of the Union promise to pivot towards jobs is played again and again, it will simply remind everyone just how much he lied and the resultant anger will ensure he no longer has a Democrat majority in Congress to do his bidding.

[Terry Mross]

No, I’m not wondering. I used the wrong words. I should have said “I’m wondering if only those of us on freerepublic believe this is what the muslim wants.”

[eggman]

The medical device tax is an excise tax on the companies that produce the devices. They can absorb the cost by increasing their prices directly or have it reflected on the bills much like the phone companies itemize the various taxes they pass on. The hospitals, doctors, and medical supply companies would likely then pass the cost on to the patient. The reprogramming would be a minimal one-time expense whereas the recordkeeping, reporting, and collecting of the tax is an ongoing expense. Regardless, it is a new cost that will obviously trickle down to the consumer in one form or another.

Here is an article Medical Device Firms Cry Foul that has some quotes from various medical device companies. It certainly will raise prices and cost jobs. Here is an interestng quote from that article.

Ernie Whiton, ZOLL's chief financial officer, said his company anticipates being hit with a $7.5 million tax bill under health-care reform. More than 80 percent of the company's revenue comes from device sales.

"We do not anticipate any significant benefit from health reform to our sales, so the tax will be a direct hit to our bottom line -- unless we pass it on to our customers, and that's our intent," Whiton said. "If we are successful in that, it will essentially drive up the cost of health care. If we're not successful, we're going to have to look at doing other things, cutting research and development and moving our manufacturing jobs overseas."

[GailA]

I know we get one and split it! That and a bowl of soup make a light supper.

[okokie]

When I want a burger and fries and cola I don’t care what the calories are so I don’t need the info and those who want the info probably don’t go there anyway-

Obama isn’t my mama-I don’t need or want him telling me what I can or can’t do-

[okokie]

OBAMA’S NOT MY MAMA-