by Eileen F. Toplansky –
It is mindboggling that so many people are totally unaware of ObamaCare, have no interest in discussing it, and are dismissive and rude if someone attempts to have a rational conversation about a law that will drastically change the landscape of this country.
This deliberate ignorance continues to beget denial. Consequently, we find America on the verge of a system that apparently only African and Eastern European acquaintances of mine instantly understand, since they ran away from the very draconian worldview that we will all face in a matter of days if ObamaCare is not stopped dead in its tracks.
Daily, one learns that ObamaCare is a job destroyer. The graph here shows that deep cuts to jobs will continue as “ObamaCare kills off at least two percent of the U.S. full-time workforce.” The list of companies cutting hours for workers continues to grow. Employers seek to keep staff below the 30-hour threshold set by the not-so Affordable Care Act.
Thus, “according to an April survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 41% of 603 small business owners” are delaying hiring. In fact, “one in five [have] already cut hours, while 20% have reduced payroll.”
Reduction of workers’ hours is now a direct result of ObamaCare. In the retail and hospitality industries, 20% of employers will cut part-time hours.
Trader Joe’s is dropping health benefits for part-time workers. The upshot of this is that greater health care costs will be borne by taxpayers via the ObamaCare insurance exchanges. In fact, quite ironically, companies that are shedding health care costs, early retiree coverage, and spousal benefits will surely be saving money. The net result is that ObamaCare’s price tag will climb even higher with the burden falling onto the middle class.
SeaWorld Entertainment is capping hours for part-timers to 23 from 32 hours.
Wal-Mart is only hiring temporary employees, a policy change that is not generally done during the upcoming holiday season.
Land’s End has cut employee hours to no more than 29 hours a week.
Regal Entertainment, via an internal memo, blamed ObamaCare requirements for their capping hours below the 30-hour threshold.
New England Motor Freight implemented an hourly cap for abut 400 part-time employees.
Emory Health Care Company in Georgia has confirmed that “more than 100 Emory health care employees are going to lose their jobs in part because of the Affordable Health Care Act.”
At least 34 universities and colleges have cut the hours of part-time and adjunct faculty.
In 2012, Michelle Malkin wrote about the layoff disclosures of Consol Energy, Murray Energy, and Dana Holding Corporation because of the cost of ObamaCare.
As of September 9, 2013, Investor’s Business Daily had compiled a list of 258 companies “that have shed work hours, jobs or taken other steps to avoid [the] costs” of [ObamaCare]. This following list dated September 18, 2013 shows “strong proof that ObamaCare’s employer mandate is behind [the] cuts to work hours or staffing levels.” In only nine days, the list has now increased to include 301 employers. The cuts are staggering when one contemplates the hardships families will incur. These cuts are occurring all across the nation.
But, of course, Congress is exempt from ObamaCare! Speak about a double standard and an unjust law. Heck, even the IRS head, who will be responsible for enforcing ObamaCare, stated that he “would prefer to stay with the current policy that [he is] pleased with rather than go through a change he didn’t need to go through.” How long will we continue to genuflect to these people?
As of a year ago, more than 2,200 hospitals were aware that they would face penalties under the ObamaCare provisions which reduces reimbursements to hospitals with high 30-day readmissions. This means that the sickest among us will be hurt the most. Additionally, the very population that Obama claims to want to assist — the poorest who have limited access to primary and follow-up care, will also suffer. Get used to euphemisms run amok in the ObamaCare law when these readmission measures are called “risk-adjusted measures.” In fact, “among patients with heart failure, hospitals that have higher readmission rates actually have lower mortality rates.” But now with ObamaCare governmental interference based on punishing hospitals, how can one still have difficulty understanding the death panel mentality of ObamaCare? Paul Krugman can backpedal all he wants but when he stated that
…we’re also going to have to make decisions about health care, doc pay for health care that has no demonstrated medical benefits. So the snarky version… which I shouldn’t even say because it will get me in trouble is death panels and sales taxes is how we do this…
he finally admitted what is becoming clearer by the day.
John Merline notes that “young people making as little as $20,394 won’t be eligible for any ObamaCare subsidies” thus negatively affecting their ability to assist in the success of ObamaCare health exchanges — yet another financial disaster in the making.
And what’s with subsidies, anyhow? Advocates of ObamaCare maintain that even if premiums are high, many people will get subsidies through an exchange. But a middle-class family earning just one more dollar than permitted by ObamaCare could face paying thousands of dollars more for health insurance.
Doctor shortages will now become more evident. In California alone, there aren’t enough doctors to “treat a crush of newly insured patients.” Moreover, it is predicted that “fewer than 40 percent of physicians will own a practice at the end of 2013, with nearly 90% citing business expenses a top concern” according to a survey cited here.
When you finally do get to see a doctor, be prepared for interrogations about sexual history. If you refuse, “doctors and hospitals that don’t comply with the federal government’s electronic health records requirements forgo incentive payments now and [will] face financial penalties from Medicare and Medicaid starting in 2015.” Given that the ObamaCare data hub does not have in place foolproof security measures to protect private information, do I hear anyone shouting coercion and invasion of privacy?
Consequently, doctors will soon be “required to betray their patients to an IRS that promises confidentiality, even while it admits to targeting those with whom it differs politically.” What impact will this have on people who seek psychological medical treatment? Who will be accountable to whom?
Thus, “[c]hanges in health care delivery threaten the values of professionalism and are tempting physicians to reject their commitment to the ‘primacy of patient welfare.'” HIPAA was bad enough; now ObamaCare reaches new heights of deceptive temptation. One needs to ask is “health information technology (HIT) for the government, or for the patient?” And if not the latter, have we not entered a totalitarian state?
In fact, the baldest lies of all have now seen the light of day as Americans will not be able to keep their health care plan nor will they be able to keep their own doctor of choice. Thus, depending on the type of policy one is forced to purchase, networks may not include the health care provider of choice. Then with insurance companies opting out of state-run health insurance exchanges, individuals are left with fewer options. Also, “Democratic staffers have admitted that under the law as written ‘insurers still would be able to refuse new coverage to children because of a pre-existing medical problem.'”
And while insurance companies were once spared by Obama’s prevarications, now major health insurance companies such as Blue Cross, Aetna, United, and Humana have decided “not to participate in various states in the ObamaCare health insurance exchanges.” Thus, Americans will not have the freedom to purchase health insurance policies that would fit their respective needs. This will eventually result in the single-payer health care system that Obama has craved from the beginning.
Top hospitals are reducing staff. Cleveland Clinic, the world-renowned medical center and the region’s largest employer, issued the following statement concerning its reduction of employees:
To prepare for healthcare reform, Cleveland Clinic is transforming the way care is delivered to patients. Over the past several years, we have had an ongoing focus on driving efficiencies, lowering costs, reducing duplication in services and enhancing quality to make healthcare affordable to patients.
Packaged thus smoothly, it will result in less care, plain and simple. Disingenuous Nancy Pelosi “seems to have missed the irony of her statement equating the spirit of our founders with the government mandate which requires all Americans to purchase their own insurance or get it through the government or face penalties.” How much can the American people be taxed as a result of ObamaCare? Already the cost is “most apparent in lost wages.” Further the ObamaCare costs “reduces middle and low income families wages just as surely as an income tax hike would.”
Remember when Pelosi waxed eloquently about “an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance.” Surprise, surprise, the fine print in ObamaCare has mandated that “catastrophic healthcare coverage previously available to the College Art Association is no longer an option for associations whose members reside in different states.” Put bluntly, entertainers and other creative Americans will lose health insurance programs that used to work just fine!
Obama, once hailed as the messiah and overwhelmingly supported by Black Americans, has yet to face up to the fact that “ObamaCare Will Hurt Blacks and Hispanics.” In fact, ObamaCare is “projected to leave more people uninsured than it actually helps gain coverage.” If 31 million Americans are still left uninsured, what was the point of this major overhaul which is destroying jobs, invading people’s privacies, lessening health care, instituting onerous regulations, burdening people financially, making a mockery of constitutional law, punishing health providers, and threatening the liberty of all Americans?
HT : American Thinker
Very good. Linked here.