The ObamaCare Cliff

December 14, 2012

The ObamaCare Cliff

Millions of Americans Face an“ObamaCare” Cliff That Means Higher Healthcare Costs

Americans are finally starting to find out “what’s in” Obamacare. A post-election flood of regulations are being released that include new taxes and fees that will force millions of middle class Americans to pay even more for healthcare.
But this is hardly something new. Millions of Americans are slated to see their taxes go up on January 1^st thanks to ObamaCare.
Meanwhile, as the ObamaCare taxes on our healthcare kick in, Democrats continue piling on debt and deficits—even going as far as to ask for a blank check to create limitless piles of government debt.

Americans are finally starting to find out “what’s in” Obamacare. A post-election flood of regulations are being released that include new taxes and fees that will force millions of middle class Americans to pay even more for healthcare.

PELOSI: “YOU HAVE TO PASS THE BILL SO THAT YOU CAN FIND OUT WHAT’S IN IT:” (Nancy Pelosi, Remarks at the 2010 Legislative Conference for the National Association of Counties, YouTube, 3/9/2012)

NOT JUST THE WEALTHY: NEW $63-PER-HEAD TAX TO HIT 190 MILLION WORKERS AND THEIR FAMILIES: “Your medical plan is facing an unexpected expense, so you probably are, too. It’s a new, $63-per-head fee to cushion the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul…Based on figures provided in the regulation, employer and individual health plans covering an estimated 190 million Americans could owe the per-person fee.” (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Surprise: New Insurance Fee In Health Overhaul Law,” Associated Press, 12/10/2012)

NEW HEALTHCARE TAX AMOUNTS TO $25 BILLION: “The charge, buried in a recent regulation, works out to tens of millions of dollars for the largest companies, employers say. Most of that is likely to be passed on to workers…. The Obama administration says it is a temporary assessment levied for three years starting in 2014, designed to raise $25 billion. It starts at $63 and then declines.” (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Surprise: New Insurance Fee In Health Overhaul Law,” Associated Press, 12/10/2012)

FEE WIL BE ASSESSED ON “ALL MAJOR MEDICAL” INSURANCE PLANS, INCLUDING THOSE PROVIDED BY EMPLOYERS AND THOSE PURCHASED INDIVIDUALLY: “The fee will be assessed on all “major medical” insurance plans, including those provided by employers and those purchased individually by consumers. Large employers will owe the fee directly. That’s because major companies usually pay upfront for most of the health care costs of their employees. It may not be apparent to workers, but the insurance company they deal with is basically an agent administering the plan for their employer.” (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Surprise: New Insurance Fee In Health Overhaul Law,” Associated Press, 12/10/2012)

WANT TO SELL INSURANCE ON THE EXCHANGES? THERE’S A 3.5% FEE FOR THAT: “Health and Human Services will operate a health insurance exchange in all states that decline to set up the marketplace themselves. In order to finance the exchange’s operations, new draft regulations released Friday envision health plans paying a ‘user fee’ if they want to sell in that space… The monthly fee will start at 3.5 percent of the plan member’s premium in 2014.” (Sarah Kliff, “Want To Sell Insurance On The Obamacare Exchanges? There’s a 3.5% Fee For That,” Washington Post, 12/13/2012)

USER FEE COULD ADD 3.5% TO PREMIUMS FOR HEALTH PLANS: “The cost of these ‘user fees’ can be passed on to consumers. The proposed fees could add 3.5 percent to premiums for private health plans sold in insurance exchanges operated by the federal government.” (Robert Pear, “Health Insurers Will Be Charged To Use New Exchanges,” New York Times, 12/30/2012)

INSURANCE INDUSTRY SPOKESMAN: “ANY NEW FEES TO PAY FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF EXCHANGES WILL ADD TO THE COST OF COVERAGE:” “’Any new fees to pay for the administration of exchanges will add to the cost of coverage,’ said Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for the industry trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans.” (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Feds Propose Fee On Health Insurers In New Market,” Associated Press, 12/30/2012)

But this is hardly something new. Millions of Americans are slated to see their taxes go up on January 1^st thanks to ObamaCare.

STARTING JANUARY, OBAMACARE MEANS .9% INCREASE IN MEDICARE PAYROLL TAX: “To help finance Medicare, employees and employers each now pay a hospital insurance tax equal to 1.45 percent on all wages. Starting in January, the health care law will require workers to pay an additional tax equal to 0.9 percent of any wages over $200,000 for single taxpayers and $250,000 for married couples filing jointly.” (Robert Pear, “New Taxes to Take Effect to Fund Health Care Law,” New York Times, 12/8/2012)

STARTING JANUARY, NEW 2.3% EXCISE TAX ON MEDICAL DEVICES WILL BE IMPOSE ON EVERYTHING FROM PACEMAKERS TO WHEELCHAIRS: “Workers will also be indirectly socked with the cost of Obamacare’s new business taxes. For example, next year there will be a new 2.3 percent excise tax on medical-device manufacturers. Especially pernicious, this tax is assessed against a firm’s total revenue rather than its adjusted income, making the real impact far greater than for a traditional income tax of the same size. While the industry’s 360,000 employees could pay the highest price in lost jobs and lower wages, all of us could end up paying more in higher medical costs, as much of the tax will be passed on in higher prices. We can expect everything from pacemakers to wheelchairs to become more expensive.” (Michael Tanner, “Regardless, You’ll Pay More,” National Review, 12/12/2012)

TOP TAX RATES ON CAPITOL GAINS AND DIVIDENDS TO JUMP FROM 15% TO 18.8%: “The top tax rates on capital gains and dividends will jump from 15% to 18.8%. The 3.8% surtax on unearned income (income earned through interest, rents, dividends, annuities, royalties, etc.) will only fall on the wealthiest two percent: households making at least $250,000, or individuals making more than $200,000 … If Congress allows the 2003 Bush tax rates to expire, the top rate on capital gains will rise to 23.8%, and the top rate on dividends will leap to 43.4%.” (Alex Rogers, “5 New Obamacare Taxes Coming in 2013,” Time Magazine, 12/7/2012)

TAXPAYERS WILL BE UNABLE TO WRITE OFF AS MANY MEDICAL EXPENSES: “In addition, workers face a new $2,500 limit on the amount they can contribute to flexible spending accounts used to pay medical expenses. Such accounts can benefit workers by allowing them to pay out-of-pocket expenses with pretax money.” (Robert Pear, “New Taxes to Take Effect to Fund Health Care Law,” New York Times, 12/8/2012)

NEXT YEAR’S TAX INCREASES EXPECTED TO RAISE $318 BILLION: “The new taxes on wages and investment income are expected to raise $318 billion over 10 years, or about half of all the new revenue collected under the health care law.” (Robert Pear, “New Taxes to Take Effect to Fund Health Care Law,” New York Times, 12/8/2012)

Meanwhile, as the ObamaCare taxes on our healthcare kick in, Democrats continue piling on debt and deficits—even going as far as to ask for a blank check to create limitless piles of government debt.

NATIONAL DEBT STANDS AT $16.375 TRILLION: (“The Debt to the Penny,” U.S. Department of the Treasury: Bureau of the Public Debt, Accessed 12/11/2012)

OBAMA AND DEMOCRATS HAVE RUN FOUR STRAIGHT YEARS OF TRILLION-DOLLAR DEFICITS: (Andrew Taylor, “CBO Tallies 2012 Deficit at $1.1T,”Associated Press, 10/5/2012)

STUDY: ANNUAL COST OF OBAMA’S DEBT AMOUNTS TO $4,000 A YEAR IN HIGHER TAXES ON THE MIDDLE CLASS: “In a new paper, AEI’s Aspen Gorry andMatt Jensen look at the real annual cost of servicing the debt for households at various levels of income — including a potentially higher tax burden. As the table below illustrates, a household making between $100,000 and $200,000 a year could find its tax liability higher by roughly $2,400 every year. Over ten years, that works out to $24,000. And when you add in the debt already accrued the past four years under President Obama (the second table), that’s another $1,600 a year. So now we are now talking about $4,000 a year, $40,000 over ten years.” (James Pethokoukis, “Study: Obama’s Big Budget Deficits Could Mean A $4,000 A Year Middle-Class Tax Hike,” American Enterprise Institute, 10/2/12)

YET, OBAMA WANTS A BLANK CHECK TO SPEND EVEN MORE: “Under the White House proposal, the president would have the power to raise the debt limit as needed. Congress currently must pass legislation to hike the limit, but under Obama’s proposal lawmakers would only be able to pass a resolution disapproving of a debt limit increase by the president.” (Peter Schroeder, “Obama’s Debt Ceiling Proposal Would Ease Concerns on Wall Street,” The Hill, 12/02/2012)