Free Republic

The latest perils of Obamacare have been revealed. The law is going to be more painful than many experts predicted. Besides the negative impact on quality of care, there will also be significant cost increases leading to reduced access to health insurance and patient care. Huge Premium Increases. The New York Times just reported double-digit increases coming for health insurance. The reporter reminded readers that "one of the biggest objectives" of the Obama administration's law was to "stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers." Before he was elected, Mr. Obama promised a $2,500 reduction in family premiums in...

I guess we really did have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it. Of course, Obama is the lawless president and doesn’t abide by laws anyway. But still, it’s funny to find out that ObamaCARE, rammed down America’s throats by Marxist Democrats in 2010 forbids any gun or ammo registration. Good news — it has become known that hidden deep within the massive 2800-page bill called Obamacare there is a Senate Amendment protecting the right to keep and bear arms. It seems that in their haste to cram socialized medicine down the throats of the Amereople, then-Speaker...

Backlash Against Wendy’s, Taco Bell for Cutting Hours and Blaming Obamacare By Elizabeth S. Mitchell on January 9, 2013 12:11 PM Few things grab the public’s attention like a celebrity-backed boycott, protest, or backlash against a specific brand or company. Today, Wendy’s and Taco Bell find themselves on the wrong end of just this sort of upheaval. Roughly 100 Wendy’s employees in the Omaha, Nebraska area will have their weekly schedules reduced to 28 hours a week so that they will no longer qualify for the health care benefits that “Obamacare” mandates for full-time employees. A Taco Bell in Guthrie,...

The U.S Department of Health & Human Services will recalculate disproportionate share hospitals (DSH) payments for more than 100 hospitals, as well as pay interest on any additional amounts owed, according to an order from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Last week, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered two cases be vacated and remanded to HHS for recalculation of reimbursement amounts for healthcare services rendered to low-income patients. According to the judge, the additional proceedings must be consistent with Northeast Hospital Corp. v. Sebelius, in which the agency's decision to exclude Medicare Advantage patient days from...

There’s a widely-unknown provision in the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) — legislative wording that is capturing attention in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Pushed by the National Rifle Association (NRA), a newly-noticed regulation that was placed deep within the bill back in 2010, among other things, bans doctors from documenting patients’ answers to questions that focus upon guns. The Washington Post first reported on Dec. 30 about the presence of this controversial wording. Under a section with the headline “Protection of Second Amendment Gun Rights,” the NRA-advocated wording is nestled deep within the...

A group of celebrities have decided to boycott Wendy's because that company is alleged to have cut hours for its employees to get out from under the requirements imposed for Obamacare. There are two things wrong with this. The first wrong thing is that only a single Wendy's franchise owner is taking this course of action and not the entire chain. The Washington Free Beacon reports that the franchise owner in Omaha, Neb., (not southern California) is taking this action because he cannot afford to provide the health care insurance that Obamacare requires for his full-time employees. It is either...

Employees at various Wendy’s restaurant locations in Nebraska will work fewer hours this year, reportedly due to costs associated with Obamacare. Under the new healthcare law, businesses with 50 or more “full-time” employees must offer health benefits to their staffers working between 32 and 38 hours. Non-managerial workers at Omaha-area Wendy’s will see their hours cut to 28 hours a week, according to local NBC affiliate WOWT. … The number of employees in Omaha who will be affected by the decision is in question. The Huffington Post reported approximately 300 staffers, while WOWT reported 100 workers. There are 11 Wendy’s...

Moe Lane highlighted a number of business in several states that are cutting their employees’ hours (when they’re not actually laying off employees), to prepare for the coming asteroid-strike that are the Obamacare taxes. The IRS, which is in charge of enforcing the bazillion-page monstrosity, recently decided 30 hours is the new “full-time” and so tens of thousands of workers will find their hours cut from a normal 32-40 down to 29, so their bosses can afford to keep them on the payroll. The whole cycle of government action/business reaction/government overreaction was as predictable as an Obama campaign speech but...

Liberal celebrities are piling on the Wendy's fast food chain, facts and economic realities be darned. Dan Savage, Nathan Fillion and Sarah Silverman are tweeting for others to join their Wendy's boycott after news leaked that the hamburger chain will be slashing some workers' hours due to restrictions placed upon them by ObamaCare. Too bad the trio didn't read the fine print - or look beyond standard far-left outlets like ThinkProgress. The worker cuts in question are only applicable to a handful of Wendy's outlets, not the whole chain itself.

Welcome to Obamaland where our inalienable rights are being gradually degraded. Now that President Obama needs never to curry electoral favor again will government’s grasping overreach soon strangle a successful arts-and-crafts company? “We’re just going to have to cross that bridge when we come to it,” says attorney Kyle Duncan of the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty. Mr. Duncan represents Hobby Lobby, a family-owned retail chain risking severe penalties for putting principles before profits. Limited self-government descends into tyranny. Hobby Lobby faces looming fines of up to $1.3 million per day for refusing to abide a spurious provision of the...

Among the five new ObamaCare tax hikes that kicked in Jan. 1, one in particular is attracting opposition from both Republicans and Democrats: the tax on medical devices. Last month, 18 Democratic senators and senators-elect (including New York’s own Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand) wrote Majority Leader Harry Reid, asking him to delay implementation of this 2.3 percent excise tax on the sales of everything from pacemakers to tongue depressors. The House already voted to repeal the tax, which is projected to extract as much as $29 billion from medical-device firms. There’s a reason that lawmakers from both parties...

NC Residents Urge Local Officials to Say NO to Obamacare Rally on January 9th to reject the implementation of Obamacare in North Carolina January 7, 2013-- On opening day of the North Carolina General Assembly from Noon to 4PM, North Carolina conservatives, libertarians, and others seeking government accountability will gather together to remind the incoming General Assembly to honor the Oath they have just sworn.more...

Since Ed and I have each written about the latest round of Obamacare-exacerbated premium hikes, let’s check in on Britain’s single-payer system, which many American liberals fetishize: An official inquiry into failings at [Stafford] hospital, where between 400 and 1,200 patients died needlessly due to a catalogue of failings and appalling standards of care, is due to be published later this month. The report is expected to blame managers who cut costs and reduced staffing levels in an attempt to hit "efficiency" targets and win foundation status. Before taking control of the health service, Sir David ran the health authority...

An Omaha-based Wendy's franchisee is cutting all non-management workers' hours to part time in order to avoid paying health insurance to its employees. The cost of Obamacare was cited as the reason: ********* The company has announced that all non-management positions will have their hours reduced to 28 a week. Gary Burdette, Vice President of Operations for the local franchise, says the cuts are coming because the new Affordable Health Care Act requires employers to offer health insurance to employees working 32-38 hours a week. Under the current law they are not considered full time and that as a small...

America needs ten thousand more. America needs thousands of businesses to resist this lawless administration in Washington and stand on the principles of freedom as Hobby Lobby has bravely done. These principles of freedom are enshrined in America’s founding documents, although they are not given to us by those documents. Our freedoms come from God alone, not government, and the fact that our current federal government spits on our God-given freedoms is a gross affront to our nation and its citizens. By now you have heard of the courageous stand the Christian owners of the national arts and crafts retail...

An Omaha Wendy’s franchise announced it would cut hours for 100 employees due to the new Democrat Obamacare health plan. WOWT reported: A fast-food chain is slashing employee hours so franchise owners don’t have to pay health benefits. Around 100 local Wendy’s workers have learned their hours are being cut. A spokesperson says a new health care law is to blame. “Thirty-six to 37 hours a week.” That’s how many hours T.J. Growbeck works at the 84th and Giles Wendy’s restaurant. The money he earns helps him pay for the basics, but that’s not the case for all his co-workers....

With the fiscal cliff deal and many Obamacare taxes taking effect, Americans will be slammed with an estimated $264 billion in new taxes this year alone—making 2013 memorable for delivering one of the largest one-year tax increases in American history. The math breakdown of the new taxes is simple: Key parts of the Bush tax cuts will expire as a result of the new fiscal cliff legislation, hitting American taxpayers with a tax bill of about $39.5 billion each year for the next decade. … Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi issued a projection that the tax burden will cut GDP...

The study says a provision linking prices for older and younger patients could raise costs on the young. Young adults will see higher health insurance premiums under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) because of a provision that links prices for older and younger patients, according to a new study. Actuaries at management consulting firm Oliver Wyman predicted the law's age rating restrictions could mean a 42 percent hike in premium costs for people aged 21 to 29 when they buy individual coverage. "This means that close to 4 million uninsured individuals … can expect to pay more out of pocket...

If it feels like you’re spending more time in the waiting room of your doctor’s office these days, it’s not your imagination. Family doctors are busier than ever. For many people, it is becoming difficult to even find a doctor, say experts who blame Obamacare for accelerating the nation’s doctor shortage. … What’s driving the trend, health experts say, is the nation’s growing population of older Americans using more healthcare resources. At the same time, as many as 1 in 3 practicing physicians are nearing retirement age. What’s more, the addition of some 30 million patients newly covered by insurance—as...

Here we go again folks, the Obama lies continue to flow.  Remember when he said this?  “I can make a firm pledge.  Under my plan no family making under $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase.  Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains, not any of your taxes.”  Really.  Then how is it that this week when people got their payroll checks they were a little thinner than they were in 2012?  I’m not talking about the “evil rich”, but the average everyday worker.  With the expiration of the payroll tax cut,...