No one should really be surprised at anything that comes out of Washington, especially if it has to do with Obamacare. Remember what Nancy Pelosi said about the legislation? She famously stated that Congress would have to pass Obamacare to find out what was in the legislation. Well, for once, she was telling the truth. Oh boy, was she telling the truth. Let's see, we have the birth control mandate that has come about as a result of the open-ended regulations that are being written because of Obamacare. One would think our politicians would have been smart enough to not give bureaucrats that much power, but they don't seem to have a problem with it. I wonder what other regulation is going to crop up, all because Congress couldn't see its way to reject such an obvious power grab?
The birth control mandate is just a quick example and it is months old, but we have an even fresher reason to question Oamacare and what it is trying to do. Technically, it is called the Affordable Care Act, but I have yet to see anything affordable about the legislation. That's where this new fee comes in. Buried deep in a recent regulation that was issued, this fee is about to make the cost of your health insurance plan go even higher.
If my calculator is functioning properly, that means an extra $12 billion will be going into the coffers of the Health and Human Services Department. Ostensibly for the greater good, you will have to forgive me if I sound skeptical about their intentions. Little by little, we are learning that Obamacare is a piece of legislation that is so open-ended, the government can manipulate its regulations into doing whatever they want. So far, they are racking up a fairly decent record of doing just that. I can't wait to see what else Obamacare has in store for us. I seriously doubt it will be good news.(Fox News) 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 Obama's health care overhaul. 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.
Employee benefits lawyer Chantel Sheaks calls it a "sleeper issue" with significant financial consequences, particularly for large employers.
"Especially at a time when we are facing economic uncertainty, (companies will) be hit with a multi-million dollar assessment without getting anything back for it," said Sheaks, a principal at Buck Consultants, a Xerox subsidiary.
Based on figures provided in the regulation, employer and individual health plans covering an estimated 190 million Americans could owe the per-person fee.
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.
Most of the money will go into a fund administered by the Health and Human Services Department. It will be used to cushion health insurance companies from the initial hard-to-predict costs of covering uninsured people with medical problems. Under the law, insurers will be forbidden from turning away the sick as of Jan. 1, 2014.
Calling Obamacare the Affordable Care Act is a joke.
