Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - Passes

unit731 · June 28, 2012

Justice Roberts is deciding vote.

We have President GW Bush to thank for this.

"The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld President Obama’s health reform law, affirming the centerpiece of the sweeping 2010 overhaul of the nation’s medical industries in a landmark 5-4 vote. The deciding opinion, written by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, held that the requirement that almost all Americans buy health insurance starting in 2014 or pay a penalty, does not violate the Constitution. The Court limited a massive expansion of Medicaid, the federal program that provides health care to the poor, but did not strike it down. That outcome validates the legacy achievement of Obama’s tenure, and puts the U.S. closer to near-universal health coverage than at any time in its history."

LINK

MikeNH · June 28, 2012

Shameful. This won't solve a damn thing and only put our country further in dept.

Obamacare- combining the efficiency of the postal service with the compassion of the IRS.

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TimmyG · June 28, 2012

Obamacare- combining the efficiency of the postal service with the compassion of the IRS.

Good way to put it!

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txab · June 28, 2012

IBTL

unit731 · June 28, 2012

Letter missing?

Crushed package?

Late delivery?

"NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Despite its financial difficulties and relatively heavy work load, the U.S. Postal Service has been declared the finest in the world by a British study.

The USPS was declared number one for efficiency among the Group of Twenty major global economies, according to findings from England's Oxford Strategic Consulting.

The U.S. Postal Service scored the highest for efficiency, even as it delivers far more letters per employee -- 268,894 in 2010 -- than other services in the G20. Japan Post, which came in second, delivers 103,149 letters per employee, and Australia Post, which placed third, delivers 166,776."

LINK

Ah, but who can trust CNN or the Brits?

MikeNH · June 28, 2012

I won't. Considering both the service I got in NH and now in MI is terrible. I bet I have higher odds of winning the lottery than getting mail in a reasonable amount of time.

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BlackZ71Silverado · June 28, 2012

Today is a sad day in our country. People will now be forced by the govt. to purchase a product they don't want. Guess this dictator can do anything now.....America as we knew it is long gone. Very sad

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MikeNH · June 28, 2012

Found that on eBay.

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unit731 · July 9, 2012

Some are sure dumb out there.

"Two polls from well-respected research institutes show many Americans don't know much about the health care fight in Washington, don't care about it - or thought the Supreme Court ruled in another direction.

The polls were done independently by the Pew Research Center and the Kaiser Family Foundation, but they have similar results that show a big chunk of the electorate disengaged from the health care reform issue.

Both polls were done after the Supreme Court upheld most of President Barack Obama's health reform plan on Thursday.

The Pew study showed that despite widespread publicity about the case, just 55 percent of the public knew the Supreme Court upheld most of the health care law. The other 45 percent said they thought the court rejected most of the law (15 percent) or they didn't know what the court did (30 percent).

Only 37 percent of people under 30 years of age knew what the health care decision was, even though the story was four days old when the survey ended."

LINK

kstruckcountry · July 9, 2012

The problem isn't even the law as much as it is the precedent. What else will they force on people? Welcome to communism...

[email protected] · July 9, 2012

The problem isn't even the law as much as it is the president. What else will he force on people? Welcome to communism...

Fixed that for you, but I digress.

kstruckcountry · July 9, 2012

The problem isn't even the law as much as it is the president. What else will he force on people? Welcome to communism...

Fixed that for you, but I digress.

I meant the precedent, as in the precedent from a court ruling. If forcing people to buy something is constitutional, what else can be pushed through?

Probably should have worded it better.

RCP · July 9, 2012

Yep, and then the Republicans have the god awful Mitt Romney as their candidate this go around who basically is the grandfather to Obamacare with what he did as Governor of Mass.. Electing Mitt Romney to fight Obamacare is like electing Rosie O'Donnell to fight obesity. Were screwed.

unit731 · July 9, 2012

"In the past week, both Alec MacGillis and Sabrina Tavernise have written articles touching on how little the uninsured actually know about the Affordable Care Act. Given that polling shows the law remains unpopular even as its component parts — with the notable exception of the individual mandate — are very popular, it seems they’re not alone. So here’s a refresher on some of the law’s most significant policies and consequences:

1. By 2022, the Congressional Budget Office estimates (pdf) the Affordable Care Act will have extended coverage to 33 million Americans who would otherwise be uninsured.

2. Families making less than 133 percent of the poverty line — that’s about $29,000 for a family of four — will be covered through Medicaid. Between 133 percent and 400 percent of the poverty line — $88,000 for a family of four – families will get tax credits on a sliding scale to help pay for private insurance.

3. For families making less than 400 percent of the poverty line, premiums are capped. So, between 150% and 200% of the poverty line, for instance, families won’t have to pay more than 6.3 percent of their income in premiums. Between 300 percent and 400 percent, they won’t have to pay more than 9.5 percent. This calculator from the Kaiser Family Foundation will let you see the subsidies and the caps for different families at different income levels.

4. When the individual mandate is fully phased-in, those who can afford coverage — which is defined as insurance costing less than 8 percent of their annual income — but choose to forgo it will have to pay either $695 or 2.5 percent of the annual income, whichever is greater.

5. Small businesses that have fewer than 10 employees, average wages beneath $25,000, and that provide insurance for their workers will get a 50 percent tax credit on their contribution. The tax credit reaches up to small businesses with up to 50 employees and average wages of $50,000, though it gets smaller as the business get bigger and richer. The credit lasts for two years, though many think Congress will be pressured to extend it, which would raise the long-term cost of the legislation.

6. Insurance companies are not allowed to discriminated based on preexisting conditions. They are allowed to discriminate based “on age (limited to 3 to 1 ratio), premium rating area, family composition, and tobacco use (limited to 1.5. to 1 ratio).”

7. Starting in 2018, the law imposes a 35 percent tax on employer-provided health plans that exceed $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for family coverage. The idea is a kind of roundabout second-best to capping the tax code’s (currently unlimited) deduction for employer-provided heath insurance. The policy idea is to give employers that much more reason to avoid expensive insurance policies and thus give insurers that much more reason to hold costs down.

8. The law requires insurers to spend between 80 and 85 percent of every premium dollar on medical care (as opposed to administration, advertising, etc). If insurers exceed this threshold, they have to rebate the excess to their customers. This policy is already in effect, and insurers are expected to rebate $1.1 billion this year.

9. The law is expected to spend a bit over $1 trillion in the next 10 years. The law’s spending cuts — many of which fall on Medicare — and tax increases are expected to either save or raise a bit more than that, which is why the Congressional Budget Office estimates that it will slightly reduce the deficit. (There’s been some confusion on this point lately, but no, the CBO has not changed its mind about this.) As time goes on, the savings are projected to grow more quickly than the spending, and CBO expects that the law will cut the deficit by around a trillion dollars in its second decade. Here’s its graph, which covers the period between 2012 and 2021."

LINK

mawint · July 9, 2012

Your forced to buy car insurance to drive on the road aren't you? What difference does it make if you have to buy health insurance also? This way everybody pays for health care, not just the people who have insurance.