XPost: dc.urban-planning, wa.politics   
   From: impeach_obama@yahoo.com   
      
   By BETSY MCCAUGHEY, The New York Post   
      
   The central parts of ObamaCare don’t roll out until 2014, but   
   the wheels are already falling off this clunker. The latest news   
   from four federal agencies is that 1) insurance will be a lot   
   less affordable than Americans were led to expect, 2) fewer   
   people than promised will get insurance and 3) millions of   
   people who have coverage through a job now will lose it, thanks   
   to the president’s “reforms.” Oh, and children are the biggest   
   victims.   
      
   The Affordable Care Act is looking less and less affordable.   
      
   Start with the IRS’s new estimate for what the cheapest family   
   plan will cost by 2016: $20,000 a year to cover two adults and   
   three kids. And that will only cover 60 percent of medical   
   bills, so add hefty out-of-pocket costs, too.   
      
   The next surprise is for parents who thought their kids would be   
   covered by an employer. Sloppy wording in the law left that   
   unclear until last week, when the IRS ruled that kids won’t be   
   covered.   
      
   Starting in 2014, the law will require employers with 50 or more   
   full-time employees to offer coverage or pay a penalty.   
   “Affordable” coverage, that is — meaning the employee can’t be   
   told to contribute more than 9.5 percent of his salary. For   
   example, a worker earning $40,000 a year cannot be required to   
   pay more than $3.800.   
      
   But the law doesn’t specifically mandate family coverage — and   
   now the administration says that won’t be required.   
      
   You can see why: If the lowest-cost family plan (again, two   
   adults and three kids) is to run a whopping $20,000, and if the   
   employee’s contribution is limited to $3,800, the employer’s tab   
   would be $16,200 — adding about $7.40 an hour to the cost of   
   that employee. Wisely, the IRS announced on Jan. 30 that   
   employers won’t have to pay for dependents.   
      
   But the Congressional Budget Office’s much-cited prediction that   
   ObamaCare would leave only 30 million people uninsured by 2016   
   was based on the assumption that kids would be covered by   
   employers. At the very least, employers insuring their workers   
   for the first time to avoid the penalty are unlikely to do that.   
      
   So how will the kids be covered? They won’t. The IRS shocked the   
   law’s advocates by announcing that the insurance exchanges won’t   
   provide subsidies for a child whose parent is covered at work.   
      
   Nor will these parents be penalized for not insuring their   
   children — the IRS will kindly consider the kids exempt from the   
   mandate.   
      
   Also exempt are millions of people who’ll stay uninsured because   
   their state is wisely choosing not to loosen Medicaid   
   eligibility.   
      
   Some background: Despite President Obama’s promises to help   
   solve the problem of the uninsured by making private health   
   plans more affordable, the law expands coverage mainly by   
   forcing states to loosen their Medicaid eligibility rules. But   
   the Supreme Court ruled that the feds can’t command states in   
   this way.   
      
   At first, the CBO said that ruling would only prevent 4 million   
   people from gaining coverage — but more states than it expected   
   are refusing to go along; it could well be 8 million more   
   without coverage.   
      
   Oh, and the CBO last week also doubled its previous estimate on   
   how many people will lose the health coverage they now get   
   through work, upping the figure to 8 million by 2016 and 12   
   million by 2019. Several top consulting firms put the figures   
   even higher.   
      
   http://www.nypost.com/Page/Uuid/fa30e4fc-73fa-11e2-a4c8-   
   21450be48a0a   
      
   --   
   Are you obligated as an armed civilian, to defend unarmed   
   liberals while you are both under fire by foreign agents of the   
   outlaw Obama administration?   
      
   No.  Shoot the liberals immediately so they can't stab you in   
   the back while you are defending yourself, then return a   
   controlled rate of aimed fire.   
      
        
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)