Free Republic

I recently posted without reading all the comments (a poor decision on my part). I see the issue of section 246 is already brought up. What the “affordability credits” are applies to Health Insurance Exchange and the bill as a whole. The only way illegal immigrants would be able to get health care in this bill is to pay for it (I haven’t been able to find any documentation that says otherwise). The affordability credits apply to need-based individuals that apply for the credits—all tax-paying Americans are eligible for those credits so long as their modified adjusted gross income does not exceed 400% of the Federal poverty level. Those credits do not pay for everything; they pay a percentage of cost-sharing in basic plans only (public or private). That means that premiums are still charged. For more information on illegal immigrants in the bill visit: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2165013/are_illegal_immigrants_covered_under.html?cat=75

Again, I urge everyone to read the sections of the bill in question, see how those sections relate to the rest of the bill, and then make an informed decision that is not based on my own banter.

I suggest you look at section 246 of the bill and reassess what you have written. Even just looking at the title of the section is good enough. This especially applies to the Health Insurance Exchange. Here’s a link to the bill since I don’t think you have it bookmarked anywhere: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3200ih.pdf

If anyone would like to actually read the bill and make an educated opinion for themselves, here is the link. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3200ih.pdf

It is actually unbelievable that people read this stuff and believe it without checking the information for themselves. One of the highlighted portions of this list states, “’The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax.’ Yes, it really says that.” This is completely true. What is left out is that the “tax” is a tax on individuals that are not already covered by insurance and refuse to get coverage from either public or private insurance providers. The tax is a 2.5% tax on gross adjusted income for those that refuse the choice to get coverage. The tax then goes into the Health Insurance Trust Fund to provide affordability credits for those on a need-based sliding scale—that is why it is not deemed a tax since it goes directly to funding health care, not to the Treasury. Basically, those who are taxed are paying for the insurance of others that sign up for affordability credits, so they might as well be paying for their own insurance with the money instead of getting taxed for something they are freely choosing to deny.

This is just one fact out of the list that is misleading. I’m neither for or against the bill right now, but I look up the facts and make a decision for myself. I hope that everyone else in America will do the same. I suggest you find your own qualms with the bill, create an educated argument against the sections you find unworthy, and send it to your representative so that they can fix it.