"Root and Branch."
Posted on 05/31/2022 8:28:24 AM PDT by Wuli
Democrats want the pandemic emergency bonus payments to be permanent.
A time-honored political trick is to pass a “temporary” subsidy that people get used to and then cry hardship when the emergency program ends. The latest example is the Democratic scramble to make permanent a huge ObamaCare subsidy expansion passed during the pandemic.
More than two dozen Democrats wrote their leaders this month asking to include provisions to “permanently lower the cost of health care” in any reconciliation bill, and the signers include some in tough re-election races such as Abigail Spanberger from Virginia.
The lawmakers are referring to expanded subsidies to buy ObamaCare plans, passed in 2021 and set to expire at the end of the year. If the subsidies aren’t extended, the letter warns, enrollees will soon see premium increases. No doubt Democrats are worried about the political consequences, but this is a subsidy cliff of their own design.
The American Rescue Plan Act juiced subsidies for ObamaCare, and those earning more than 400% of the federal poverty line became eligible, depending on the cost of a “benchmark” plan. A family of four with a 60-year-old head of household earning $265,000 could end up eligible for more than $7,800 a year in taxpayer subsidies.
On the lower end of the income scale, Democrats essentially started giving away insurance. Nearly five million enrollees with incomes below 150% of the poverty line pay no premiums for their plan in 2022, according to one analysis. Democrats pitch this as good news—free health care!—but the subsidies flow to insurers, which can then jack up premiums further, knowing that the government will cover the difference.
Shoveling more money into ObamaCare won’t improve the quality of the health coverage.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Nothing is more permanent than a temporary government program.
There is nothing unique about Obamacare in this area. There is no such thing as temporary government spending. It goes on forever.
Definition of subsidy: artificially keeping something alive that would die in the real world.
When they issued the “forever” stamp it was clear the US had reached peak hubris.
I just hope the excrement does not hit the rotating blades until after I have passed on...
Shoveling more money into ObamaCare won’t improve the quality of the health coverage.
Every last Public Employee in America should be required to Join the Obamacare plan or be immediately terminated.
"Root and Branch."
“What the Dims are trying is only news because it is the latest program they are seeking to convert from temporary to permanent. We here know that permanent is what they wanted all along.”
Apparently the Republicans also wanted a permanent program. When they controlled the House and Senate, plus had a GOP president in office (Trump) who would have quickly signed the bill, they decided not to repeal O’Care. Both parties own it.
In North Carolina the leftist Democrat governor has been demanding the Republican legislatures approve Medicaid expansion. It is looking very likely this year the Republican legislature will cave and give Cooper a big victory. The governor and the Dems will claim credit. The Republicans will get no credit from the media or the Democrat voters. The Republican voters will pay the cost of the new entitlement forever.
Yeah, but you have to admit, it was worth it just to see liberal heads explode when this stamp came out...
:D
“Nothing is more permanent than a temporary government program.” — Milton Friedman
The money games for healthcare and all other things tend to be deceptive via median vs average.
The median household income in the US (this is multiple household sources, 2 spouses, maybe a senior parent or adult child) was $68K in 2019 pre virus. That’s median. As many above this as below it.
Median wage per hour 2019 was $19.33. That’s about $40K full time.
That 40K number is pre Fed tax, pre State tax, pre Soc Sec contribution, pre Medicare contribution
The average healthcare expense in 2019 per household member was about $5000 in 2019. Note that is average, not median. It has elderly numbers in it. Healthcare insurance premiums spike higher with every year above age 50.
That $40K median person may see what, maybe $28K after all taxes. That has to fund food, transport, housing. And yes, housing is going to eat big % of that $28K. Imagine $1500 apartment rent. You then have 10K for food and transport. And this is the median. Half the wage earners are under that.
And so, now tack on $5K for healthcare.
THIS is why Obamacare subsidies got voted in. It has nothing to do with some philosophical desire for a permanent government program. It has to do with what things cost.
You might also want to keep in mind this is Quantitative Eased money created from nothingness. You don’t pay it. You never will pay it. That $30T debt will never decline.
My health care cost for me and 3 children before Obamacare: $6000
My health care cost for myself, alone, AFTER the “Affordable Care Act”:
$18,000
I have been doing without it. I have saved over $100,000.
Has Anyone here tried that ‘cost sharing’ Christian health plan that is always advertised on Hannity?
“Nothing is more permanent than a temporary government program.”
Absolutely! And there’s a very simple reason for that.
Whoever dares to take those bennies away will suffer the pains of hell, politically.
So neither the Rats nor the Republicans will touch them.
Their insurance company contributors ordered them not to. Obamacare was a dream result for them.
People WANT!!
quit paying for luxuries and pay for your necessities!
How much does internet 'access' cost an average family each month?
How about 'tv'??
No one would buy this crap in a free market. Even if you get it “free” how many people have the 12,000 in cash for the deductible?
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