Health Care Bill vs Health Care Law

Understanding of Health Care Law same as when it was a Health Care Bill --

USA Today reports what everybody already knew about the year-old health care law: not a damn thing. “Although opinions are plentiful about the requirement that most Americans buy health insurance and about the costs of expanding Medicaid — both provisions that take effect in 2014 — apparently few people know about provisions that are already in place, unless those provisions have directly affected them. And that seems to play a big role in public opinion.” Thank goodness for The Daily Caller’s Jonathan Strong and Matthew Boyle. Get a breakdown of the provisions already in place from Boyle. For a long-term prognosis, read Strong’s wrap-up of the Shermanesque march toward the impending legal battles. The piece includes the most frightening phrase in the English language: “Armies of lawyers.”

Where Did We Hear This?

"The reckless Republican repeal of health care is a budget busting bailout for insurance companies that will kill jobs, raise Americans' taxes, and deny critical care to women and children. It is unconscionable that Republicans plan on ramming the bill through the House without exploring the disastrous impact repeal will have on Americans." --Rep. George Miller (D-CA)

Oh yeah, when the dhimmis were ramming the health care bill through Congress without explorig the disastrous impact it will have on American businesses. Over 200 of which have been given waivers so they won't go broke trying to comply. If its so good, why do they need waivers?

We Just Want the Information for Record Keeping

Q: Does the new health care law require workers to pay income tax on the value of employer-provided health insurance?
A: No. The value will appear on employees’ W-2 forms for information purposes, but will not be considered taxable income.

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Everyone who thinks the government just wants this information for record keeping raise your hand.

Everyone who thinks the government is entitled to know the private dealings between an employee and employer raise your hand.

Everyone who thinks the government is entitled to this information raise your hand.

If you believe the government will not use this information at some point in the future, I have a bridge in Brooklyn and some oceanfront in Arizona I can let you have cheap.

If This Doesn't Get People Motivated...

We may as well pack it in and start singing Kumbiyah...they'll be coming for the Krispy Kremes, soon.

You can have my White Castle slider when you pry it from my cold dead hands.


White Castle Exec: Obamacare Provision Would Cut Our Income in Half

BY Jeffrey H. Anderson

Forget about open-heart surgery or cutting-edge cancer treatments. Under Obamacare, you might have a hard time finding a hamburger. A statement released by White Castle, the Ohio-based burger chain, highlights how damaging Obamacare would be to small businesses and to Americans' job prospects.

White Castle reports that a single provision of Obamacare would cut its net income in half -- and then some. Jamie Richardson, a White Castle executive, says, "We’ve been working on this internally from a number of different perspectives. One [provision] that has [us] the most concerned is the $3,000 penalty that kicks in when an employee’s portion of a premium exceeds 9.5% of Household Income."

Richardson elaborates, "In present form, this provision alone would lead to approximate increased costs equal to over 55% of what we earn annually in net income (based on [our] past 4-year average). Effectively cutting our net income in half would have [a] devastating impact on the business -- cutting future expansion and more job creation at least in half. Sadly, it makes it difficult to justify growing where jobs are needed most -- in lower income areas." And that's all from just a single provision in a 2,700-page act.

The Obama administration's economic policy seems to involve dividing businesses into two categories: too big to fail, and too little to matter.

No wonder Ohioans support repeal of Obamacare by 19 percentage points (57 to 38 percent).

She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy

John Deere, Caterpillar, Verizon Announce Rise in Health-Care Costs After Obamacare Passage

BY Mary Katharine Ham

If Verizon weren't in the mix, I'd be tempted to say this was a rural dudes with heavy machinery tax.

Farm equipment maker Deere & Co (DE.N) expects after-tax expenses to rise by $150 million this year as a result of the healthcare reform law President Barack Obama signed this week. Most of the higher expense will come in Deere's second quarter, the company said on Thursday. The expense was not included in the company's earlier 2010 forecast, which called for net income of about $1.3 billion.

Earlier this week, Caterpillar announced it would take a $100 million hit:
The charge is expected to be a one-time cost, but Caterpillar has argued that higher taxes and other potential cost increases related to insurance coverage mandates in the legislation will hinder the company's recovery this year after a 75% plunge in income during 2009. "From our point of view, a tax increase like this cannot come at a worse time," said Jim Dugan, a Caterpillar spokesman.

Although the tax doesn't take effect until 2011, the company said it is required to recognize the impact in the period in which the law was signed. Industry analysts estimated the charge at about 13 cents a share.

That ought to do wonders for the construction sector.

The National Review got its hands on an e-mail from Verizon to employees:
...due to the varying effective dates included in the legislation, we expect that Verizon’s costs will increase in the short-term. These cost increases are primarily driven by two provisions.

The first is a provision that affects the Medicare Part D subsidy for prescription drug coverage. Because Verizon offers retiree prescription drug coverage today, the government provides a 28 percent subsidy to help offset the financial burden of offering that coverage. The subsidy was intended to help employers continue to offer prescription drug coverage for retirees so that these retirees would not have to use the Government Medicare Part D program.

However, changes affecting the Part D subsidy will make it less valuable to employers, like Verizon, and as a result, may have significant implications for both retirees and employers.

Some of its generous plans will also be subject to the "Cadillac" tax, which may or may not go into effect in 2018, but Verizon has to be more responsible than Congress by actually planning for it.