Obamacare Watcher

Obamacare forces insurers to give voters cash 3 months before election

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:14:27 +0000

Obamacare will force health insurers to pay up to $1.4 billion in insurance rebates to 9 million voters just three months before this year’s general election.

Affordable Care Act makes high deductible, low cost health plans, LESS affordable

admin — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:25:43 +0000

A new study, released February 13, 2012, confirms what we’ve known for a while, the Affordable Care Act’s Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) rule instead of making plans less affordable will make affordable plans more difficult to find.

What just happened?: Obama’s anti-religious liberty shell game.

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:18:06 +0000

What just happened? That’s what many are asking after watching President Obama’s Friday announcement that he will be “accommodating” religious organizations that object to purchasing contraceptive and abortifacient coverage for their employees.
Hours later, the Administration released the final rule that contains the narrow waiver for churches.

In a separate document, the administration has issued a 1-year “safe harbor” waiver for non-exempted religious organizations.

Then, in a scheme akin to a shell game, instead of requiring non-church religious organizations to purchase contraceptive coverage, the Obama Administration says that in a future regulation it will require the organization’s insurance company to pay for the coverage.

Where’s the final regulation for the contraception mandate waiver?

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:28:33 +0000

Senator Mike Enzi wants to know, Where is the contraception waiver final regulation? In a letter to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), he says the absence of a final regulation suggests the Obama Administration didn’t follow proper administrative procedure.

Obamacare’s Medical Device Tax: The Power to Destroy Affordable Care

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:31:05 +0000

The power to tax is the power to destroy.¹

Last Friday afternoon the IRS issued a proposed rule that implements Obamacare’s tax on medical devices.

Yes, starting next year the “Affordable Care Act” will require drug manufacturers to pay a 2.3% excise tax on medical devices.

How does that make healthcare more affordable?

It doesn’t.

The politics of waivers

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:11:51 +0000

Once again the Obama Administration is issuing waivers from its controversial Obamacare law in order to make it more politically palatable. With high Catholic populations in key swing states, the Obama Administration announced January 20, 2012, that it will give one-year waivers to Catholic and other religious organizations conscientiously opposed to a new regulation that requires employers to offer free contraceptives to their employees—including controversial abortifacient contraceptives.

Obamacare implementation continues to grind forward

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:54:30 +0000

Obamacare is likely to find its way into the national debate continuously throughout 2012 as the Supreme Court takes the constitutionality of the law up, while the regulatory mechanisms for enforcing the law continue to be put into place.

Americans for Limited Government Foundation has put together some key upcoming dates when actions will occur that impact American’s healthcare. Some will get major news media coverage, others will be ignored in the legacy media. But all of these dates represent transformative changes that will change the way the government is involved in healthcare forever.

Cost of Obamacare Regulations Underestimated by Billions of Dollars

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:03:35 +0000

The Obama Administration underestimated the costs of Obamacare regulations by billions of dollars says the non-partisan Mercatus Center at George Mason University in a working paper it issued on Monday.[1] The study examines eight Obamacare regulations issued in 2010 that became law before public comment was allowed because of the brief timeline Obamacare gave for their implementation.

Regulation Makes Obamacare Worse Than the Statute Itself

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:07:51 +0000

Obamacare is bad as enacted, but now the Obama Administration through its regulatory power is destroying Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), one of the few good things that has happened in health care law in the past decade.

The Nitty Gritty: State Options for Choosing an EHB Definition

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:50:49 +0000

Under recently issued federal regulatory guidance, states have some say in determining what minimum benefits health plans in the individual, small group, and exchange markets must offer to their beneficiaries. These minimum required benefits are called the Essential Health Benefits (EHB).