Approaching Last Exit To Avoid Obamacare

It’s all about the funding and the fine print. When those two things converge in Washington DC, laws are born and thus begin to impact our lives.

The Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, is now in the last stages of the birthing process.

Starting January 1st you will be required by law to get some form of health insurance, or pay a fine that will increase significantly in the years to come.

Unless our leaders in Congress delay or de-fund the law in the coming days, our lives will be greatly impacted by it very soon. And it can be argued, with real facts, that Obamacare is already impacting America, even before its funding starts en masse and the fine print is dry.

In truth, much about the impact of Obamacare is based in confusion, fear, or uncertainty. New laws always bring with them unintended consequences or glitches. Sometimes those things can be fixed or minimized, sometimes they can’t.

Whether you are a fan of Obamacare or not, the reality is decisions have already been made about the expected impact of the law, with some of the unintended consequences becoming at little more apparent and some glitches beginning.

Let’s look at some examples in an expanded bullet-point fashion:

* The world-respected Cleveland Clinic announced recently that they have to cut $330 million from their annual budget due to mandates related to Obamacare. They will either seek early retirement or layoffs of 3,000 people at the hospital to find the savings. (Source-Cleveland Plain Dealer, WTAM 1100, Reuters)

* Uninsured young and healthy Americans buying into Obamacare exchanges is crucial for the law’s health and survival, both initially and in the long run. “The fear in the Obama administration is you’re going to get the sick people signing up and the nonsick not signing up and that would be a disaster. The insurance pools won’t work,” said Professor Lawrence Jacobs of the University of Minnesota. Additionally, senior advisor to President Obama, David Simas said in July, “We know that in order for us to be successful, to really make sure that the marketplaces are effective, there’s a smaller subset that needs to be at the center of our focus of outreach. And that’s about 2 million to 2-½ million young and healthy 18-to-35-year-olds.” Studies show that if 7 million uninsured take part in exchanges this year, 2 million to 2.5 million of that number need to be young adults for insurance rates to work. (Source-Yahoo News, Christian Science Monitor)

* Young and Healthy Americans across the country, on average, will initially pay much higher premiums after Obamacare takes effect, compared to existing premiums they are currently being offered. The rates vary wildly depending on what state and city you’re dealing with and how many exchanges you get to pick from, but the majority of young and healthy insurance purchasers will get hit hard the first year. Using statistics provided last week by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), “Obamacare will increase underlying insurance rates for younger men by an average of 97 to 99 percent, and for younger women by an average of 55 to 62 percent.” based on a Manhattan Institute analysis. An HHS press release claims “Premiums nationwide will also be around 16 percent lower than originally expected.” But HHS stated that opinion while comparing what rates may look like in 2016, comparing its own findings to what the Congressional Budget Office projected rates may look like. HHS avoided comparing “how much rates will go up next year, under Obamacare, relative to this year, prior to the law taking effect.” (Source-Forbes, Wall Street Journal)

* Home Depot and Trader Joe’s recently cut health insurance for part-time workers, sending them to fend for themselves on government-sponsored health exchanges. These workers (20,000 at Home Depot) are part of a growing trend of workers nationwide who are experiencing similar situations with larger employers. Obamacare defines part-time workers as those working fewer than 30 hours a week. Industry consultant, Robert Laszewski says, “Obamacare is predicated on employers maintaining coverage. It’s supposed to pick up the relatively few people who can’t access health insurance because they’re self-employed or work for small employers who can’t afford it. The big guys are supposed to stay committed.” (Source-Bloomberg News, Forbes, Huffington Post)

* The approximate 40,000 members of the International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union (ILWU) recently left the AFL-CIO (America’s largest labor federation) in part due to cost increases and changes Obamacare will cause in the union members “Cadillac” health care plans. The AFL-CIO leaders have consistently been unquestioningly strong proponents of the new health care law, although their President Richard Trumka spoke-up for some minor changes during a recent September convention, but he fell short of calling on abolishing or delaying the law. (Source-Fox News, Youtube, NY Daily News)

* The Presidents of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, United Food and Commercial Workers and UNITE HERE recently sent a letter to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saying Obamacare had “unintended consequences” and will lead to “nightmare scenarios” as well as “destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week.” The Union Presidents did not seek repeal of the law in their letter, but want changes, adding “the law as it stands will hurt millions of Americans including the members of our respective unions.” (Source-USA Today Fact Check, The Hill, Wall Street Journal)

* “…Obamacare’s Small Business Exchanges Not All Ready For Launch” This headline and companion article recently appeared in the Washington Post. The story indicated Web sites of federally run exchanges for business with fewer than 50 employees will not be fully usable on October 1st. Some sites will go live but be unable to conduct “shopping for and comparing plans” until some time later this year. A related story in the Wall Street Journal stated software glitches on some federal exchange sites made it difficult to “reliably determine how much people need to pay for coverage.” (Source-Washington Post, CNN Money, Yahoo Finance, Wall Street Journal)

* A significant amount of doctors are planning to retire in the next 1 to 3 years as Obamacare picks up steam. And even if they don’t retire, they are expected to not accept or limit the amount of federal exchange and Medicaid covered patients. Various polling indicates somewhere between 45 to 80 percent of America’s doctors will retire after Obamacare takes effect. They site the laws complexity and/or lower reimbursement payments from the government for patient care. (Source-Fox News, Forbes, Youtube, Black Christian News)

* The Internal Revenue Service is the government agency responsible for keeping track of the American citizenry’s compliance of Obamacare, as well as any fines contained therein. The thought of this entity being responsible enough, consistent enough and fair enough to all Americans of all economic backgrounds as well as safeguard highly personal health records runs in direct opposition to reality and the bad experiences millions of Americans have had to endure over several decades of questionable/uncaring IRS activity. (Source-My experience, the experience of friends, family, business partners and accepted US History)

The bullet points above are only a smattering of the unintended consequences and glitches America faces as the Obamacare party bus heads down the unmapped highway of your life and the lives of over 330 million fellow citizens.

If your leaders in Washington DC fail to delay or de-fund Obamacare and don’t succeed in pulling that party bus off the highway, we will all get to witness how smooth or bumpy the ride will get. All without a clear map to the future.