» Sign up to receive the Daily Dose by email every weekday
Morning Bell: White House Admits Obamacare's Individual Mandate is a Tax
Conn Carroll - Heritage Foundation
Throughout
his presidential campaign, then-candidate Barack Obama promised the
American people: "If you're a family that's making $250,000 a year or
less, you will see no increase in your taxes." After he became
President, Barack Obama reiterated that pledge, promising the American
people in his September 9th health care press conference: "The
middle-class will realize greater security, not higher taxes." But
Obamacare does contain tax hikes. Tons of them. From taxes on tanning
beds to taxes on employment and investments, Obamacare is a certified
job-killing machine.What Case Was That Again?
Elena
Kagan's Supreme Court nomination whisked through the Senate Judiciary
Committee yesterday on a largely partisan 13-6 vote, and the full Senate
will no doubt soon follow suit. We don't want to send her on her robed
way, however, without closing the loop on her answers to our questions
last week about whether she should recuse herself from sitting in
judgment on the lawsuits by 21 states against ObamaCare.The New Republic: Good News For Health Care
Jonathan Cohn - NPR
The
weekend's newspapers included a pair of headlines about health care
reform. And they were probably not the kind that reform advocates like
to see. One was in the Boston Globe: "Firms Cancel Health Coverage."
According to the article, a number of small businesses had recently
decided to stop offering insurance to employees. In 2006, Massachusetts
put in place a new health insurance scheme similar to the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act, the federal law President Barack
Obama and congressional Democrats passed earlier this year. If
businesses in Massachusetts were now dropping coverage three years into
that state's reform experiment, people might conclude the same will
happen across the country. And they probably wouldn't like that very
much.Health secretary addresses concerns about Medicare at Irving senior center
Jason Roberson - Dallas Morning News
U.S.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visited an Irving
senior citizens' recreation center Monday trumpeting benefits of the
new health care law. Sebelius said those opposing the law that President
Barack Obama signed in March scared seniors into thinking they might
lose Medicare benefits and choices in Medicare's Advantage Plans, which
are Medicare insurance options from private companies. "A lot of
misinformation was put out to seniors from people who did not want this
bill to pass," Sebelius said. Oklahoma insurance commissioner challenges new fees on health care plans
Don Mecoy - NewsOK
State
Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland's legal challenge of a 1 percent fee
on health care claims approved in the waning days of the legislative
session could have a major impact on Medicaid recipients and providers,
a spokesman for Gov. Brad Henry said Tuesday. Communications Director
Paul Sund said it's too early to say whether Holland's challenge might
prompt a budget crisis, "but it would affect Medicaid recipients and
providers across the board -- nursing homes, doctors, hospitals and their
patients."Mandate mendacity: The Obamacare tax
Editorial - Union Leader
After
successfully perpetrating his health care "reform" bait and switch on
the American people, President Obama is trying to pull another one on
the federal courts. In 2008, Obama opposed requiring that Americans buy
health insurance. He repeatedly attacked Hillary Clinton for advocating
such a mandate. Then, a few months after taking office, he came out for a
mandate and made sure his health care plan had one. There's nothing rational about rationing health care services
Jay Ambrose - San Francisco Examiner
Thinking
of Donald Berwick made me think of Jacques Barzun. Berwick is the
Harvard professor that President Barack Obama snuck into the job of
Medicare and Medicaid chief. Barzun is a magnificent intellectual. What
gives, then? Let me start with Barzun's "From Dawn to Decadence."
Barzun, born in France but an American for a long time, shows in this
work how the West has gradually lost some of its sense of direction. A
"mongrel civilization par excellence," the West has borrowed from all
over the place and is as diverse as it gets, Barzun says, adding that it
has shown unity in some remarkable ideas and institutions that are not
to be discovered anywhere else.Political Uncertainty and ObamaCare
Peter Suderman - Reason
Paul
Caron points us to a new paper by Cardozo Law's Edward Zelinsky on the
tax provisions of the PPACA. The short version? The law may not be as
radical a departure from the current system as some critics contend, but
it doesn't solve the fundamental cost-control problems of the current
system. From the abstract: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act (PPACA) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
(HCERA) do not alter the status quo as much as their advocates and
their detractors contend nor do PPACA and HCERA resolve the fundamental
challenges confronting the U.S. health care system, including the
problem of escalating health care outlays. ObamaCare brings ridiculous burden to small businesses
Jason Pye - United Liberty
Do
you own a small business? If so, prepare to be buried by the
bureaucracy it will bring to your office: In order to pay for the health
care benefits of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
(PPACA), the scope of Form 1099 was considerably extended by PPACA
Section 9006. Internal Revenue Code Section 6041 currently contains
numerous exceptions from Form 1099 reporting requirements. In general,
current 1099 reporting covers only services paid to individuals and
partnerships. Absent the IRS making regulatory changes, after the PPACA
change becomes effective, no meaningful exemptions will exist. If a
vendor receives more than $600 in total during the year, a 1099 will be
required.Health care law to be challenged by conservative group
Cecil Angel - Detroit Free Press
A
conservative group will be in federal court today in Detroit to argue
that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the
health care law, should not be enforced because it is unconstitutional.
The Thomas More Law Center is seeking a preliminary injunction to stop
the government to force them to purchase health care. Judge George Caram
Steeh will hear the case based on a Commerce Clause claim. Local Politicians Fight ObamaCare
Ron Capshaw - Examiner
Virginia
Congressman Frank R. Wolfe is now part of a repeal petition to force
the House of Represenatives to vote on stopping Obamacare. Wolfe is
number 139 of the 218 congressman who has signed on. Other Virigina
House members who have signed are Bob Goodlatte, 6th district; Eric
Cantor, 7th district; J. Randy Forbes, 4th district; and Robert J.
Wittman, 1st district.The Hypocrite Express
Oh,
what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. Surely
the Obama administration will be called to account for a deception the
president himself practiced when the first court hearings are held in
the federal government's defense against the several states' lawsuit
challenging the constitutionality of ObamaCare. It was a year ago that
Mr. Obama insisted, repeatedly and adamantly, that a congressional
requirement that most Americans obtain health insurance or pay a penalty
is not a tax. Then, the administration defended the mandate as being
part of Congress' right to regulate interstate commerce.No appeal on suit against Mo. health care measure
The people who challenged a Missouri ballot taking aim at a key provision in the new federal health care law have decided not to appeal a judge's decision against their lawsuit. Attorney Chip Gentry said Monday that his clients don't plan to take the case to the Missouri Supreme Court, because -- even if they were successful -- it would be too late to halt the printing of ballots for the Aug. 3 election. The Missouri ballot proposal would bar governments from requiring people to have health insurance or from penalizing people for paying their health bills with their own money. If passed, it would conflict with a requirement of a new federal law requiring most people to have health insurance or face fines by 2014.
Health care coverage being yanked right out
The following letter was just sent by National
Health Insurance (NHIC) to its health insurance policyholders: "This
letter is being sent to notify you of our decision to withdraw from the
individual and small group health benefit plan markets nationwide. After
careful consideration of the recent health care legislation, NHIC has
determined that it will not be able to meet the requirements set forth
by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act recently enacted by
the United States federal government. With this knowledge, NHIC has
decided to cease distributing and renewing its medical expense plan.
| Latest Polling |
|
Rasmussen Reports July 19, 2010 56 percent of voters favor repealing Obamacare |