Are you stupid?
Well, you are, if you believe the lies upon which the foundation of ObamaCare is built.
Sorry, but that's what one of the most respected economists in the world bragged about - getting the voters to believe the foundation of lies, deliberately blocking transparency so the American people wouldn't know what was in the bill, relying on the people's lack of economic understanding, and making sure the Congressional Budget Office did not score it as a tax, so that the bill had a chance to pass Congress. The goal was to misrepresent ObamaCare as much as was necessary to get the stupid American public to believe the fraud and buy it.
But, you are here, which means you are not stupid.
You... are a smart consumer, researching information.
You... are a freedom-loving American, rejecting socialism and socialized medicine.
You... take responsibility for your family, refusing to depend on the government for their needs.
You... love God, and fear Him more than you do men.
~ and ~
You... have choices.
You... have choices.
First, what is ObamaCare?
ObamaCare is a nickname.
Now, before you continue, you must understand this next point:
You will not see the word ObamaCare on any health care/insurance policy, because ObamaCare is not a nickname for one particular plan.
It is a nickname for a law. It is the nickname for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA).
Now, before you continue, you must understand this next point:
You will not see the word ObamaCare on any health care/insurance policy, because ObamaCare is not a nickname for one particular plan.
It is a nickname for a law. It is the nickname for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA).
Why does this matter? Because the downside of a catchy nickname is that it can lull people into a false sense of security if they don't see that nickname on a piece of paper. So, you need to know what ObamaCare legally is, to know whether or not you may be signing up for it.
Here's a little background... the ACA is President Obama's signature legislation. It's his baby. It was passed by Congress on December 24, 2009, and Obama signed it into law on March 23, 2010. This federal law requires every American citizen to buy a minimum amount of insurance for themselves and their family, or pay a costly penalty/tax for being uninsured.
ObamaCare was passed by Democrats, and Democrats alone in Congress. They held the majority in the House and Senate, and took full advantage of that control. Not one single Republican voted for it, but the Democrats rammed the legislation through anyway. The Republicans were neither partisan nor stupid in opposing it. They knew ObamaCare was wrong for America. The liberal mainstream media championed and promoted the bill, before and after its passage, and they protected it by what they chose not to report about it. Conservatives in the media exposed Obama from the beginning, and Obama reacted by singling out those voices and impugning them, trying to get Americans to ignore them. He intimidated Americans as being stubborn for listening to Fox News, saying the network was not "clear" on his policies, and dismissing it being devoted to attacking his administration. He told Republicans not to listen to Rush Limbaugh, and blamed Rush as the cause of hyper-partisanship. Obama repeatedly identified Rush and Fox and Glenn Beck as voices whom Americans should ignore, yet the people responded by making the Fox News the most highly rated cable news network. Tens of thousands of conservative Americans marched on Capitol Hill to protest ObamaCare before its passage, and not only were they ignored by the representatives they had elected, but some of those representatives even demonized their constituents as terrorists and racists. Voters, in return, fired these Democrats from their jobs via historic Republican victories, and reclaimed the House in 2010, and the Senate in 2014.
Every day for the past four years we have learned more truths about the myriad ways the Obama Administration lied to us, how they promised transparency to get their foot in the door, then slammed the door in our faces once they had control. Conservatives have always known what was coming. We were never the stupid ones.
So, ObamaCare is a law. How do I know if my insurance is affected?
The law applies to every single health insurance company in America.
It dictates a set of rules that every health insurance policy must follow. Do not think you have successfully avoided ObamaCare if you have "private" insurance. I've had numerous people say to me, "I will not sign up for ObamaCare. I'm going to get my insurance through my employer." If you think that, you are still in the dark as to what ObamaCare is, and how this federal law binds you.
All insurance companies are private. They are private businesses and, now, they are all bound under the law by the ACA to include certain requirements. The alternative to private insurance is "public" health care, also known as Medicare (for the elderly) or Medicaid (for the poor) or TRICARE (for the military) or FEHB (for federal employees), where your coverage comes directly through the government via everyone else's tax dollars.
Whether it's private insurance such as Anthem, Aetna, Cigna, BCBS, Humana, UnitedHealthcare/Golden Rule, Kaiser Permanente... or whether you have public health care because you're a state or federal employee... all are bound under the law. Insurance companies cannot offer any "opt-out" choice. IT'S FEDERAL LAW. Some big insurance companies have chosen not to participate in the exchanges of particular states, or not to offer certain plans in some states, but that's because it isn't financially viable for them to do so, which is not the same as "opting out of ObamaCare" as a whole, which they cannot legally do. Wherever they choose to do business, they must comply. Whether you purchase group insurance through your employer, or buy it individually because you are self-employed, or buy through your state's "marketplace" exchange, or through the federal portal healthcare.gov, you are forced to comply with the PPACA, which means you will be buying ObamaCare.
2) If your employer has put off complying with the employer mandate. Obama delayed the mandate until 2015/2016 depending on the number of employees, so some employers have already chosen to comply, but others are waiting until the bitter end, after which they will be penalized $2,000 per employee who does not have insurance. However, employers are provided a $3,000 incentive for hiring illegal immigrants, who are not required to comply with ObamaCare.
It dictates a set of rules that every health insurance policy must follow. Do not think you have successfully avoided ObamaCare if you have "private" insurance. I've had numerous people say to me, "I will not sign up for ObamaCare. I'm going to get my insurance through my employer." If you think that, you are still in the dark as to what ObamaCare is, and how this federal law binds you.
All insurance companies are private. They are private businesses and, now, they are all bound under the law by the ACA to include certain requirements. The alternative to private insurance is "public" health care, also known as Medicare (for the elderly) or Medicaid (for the poor) or TRICARE (for the military) or FEHB (for federal employees), where your coverage comes directly through the government via everyone else's tax dollars.
Whether it's private insurance such as Anthem, Aetna, Cigna, BCBS, Humana, UnitedHealthcare/Golden Rule, Kaiser Permanente... or whether you have public health care because you're a state or federal employee... all are bound under the law. Insurance companies cannot offer any "opt-out" choice. IT'S FEDERAL LAW. Some big insurance companies have chosen not to participate in the exchanges of particular states, or not to offer certain plans in some states, but that's because it isn't financially viable for them to do so, which is not the same as "opting out of ObamaCare" as a whole, which they cannot legally do. Wherever they choose to do business, they must comply. Whether you purchase group insurance through your employer, or buy it individually because you are self-employed, or buy through your state's "marketplace" exchange, or through the federal portal healthcare.gov, you are forced to comply with the PPACA, which means you will be buying ObamaCare.
There are several current "exceptions" to having ObamaCare:
1) If you are in a grandfathered plan, which is an "old" group plan, created before March 23, 2010, and if your employer decides to continue offering that old plan. Old plans were granted grandfathered status. However, employers are rapidly dropping these policies due to increasing costs and pressure to comply with the upcoming employer mandate. So, chances are you will be "upgraded" to a plan that complies with the ACA in the very near future. You can ask your insurance company if your current plan is grandfathered.
1) If you are in a grandfathered plan, which is an "old" group plan, created before March 23, 2010, and if your employer decides to continue offering that old plan. Old plans were granted grandfathered status. However, employers are rapidly dropping these policies due to increasing costs and pressure to comply with the upcoming employer mandate. So, chances are you will be "upgraded" to a plan that complies with the ACA in the very near future. You can ask your insurance company if your current plan is grandfathered.
2) If your employer has put off complying with the employer mandate. Obama delayed the mandate until 2015/2016 depending on the number of employees, so some employers have already chosen to comply, but others are waiting until the bitter end, after which they will be penalized $2,000 per employee who does not have insurance. However, employers are provided a $3,000 incentive for hiring illegal immigrants, who are not required to comply with ObamaCare.
3) If your state legislature has voted to accept Obama's offer of a two-year extension of nonconforming individual and small group policies. In other words, Obama said he will not enforce his own law requiring cancellation of nonconforming policies, if states vote to agree to go along with that. He did this to further delay the impact of ObamaCare before the November 2014 midterm elections. The voters were not stupid, and Democrats lost control of the Senate, despite Obama's best efforts.
4) If you claim that buying individual insurance under the Affordable Care Act would be a hardship and, therefore, unaffordable.
5) If you have joined a recognized health care sharing ministry which was in operation before December 31, 1999. These are legally exempt from ACA compliance, due to ethical or religious reasons. More on these later.
Obama promised over 36 times that if you liked your doctor/insurance/health care plan you could keep it, but anyone paying attention to the math knew that would be impossible. ObamaCare mandates that insurance companies must accept every applicant regardless of preexisting conditions. That caused insurance premiums and deductibles nationwide to skyrocket. It caused insurance companies to drop old policies and issue new ones. It caused employers to change insurance companies completely. It forced families out of the policies and away from the doctors they wanted to keep. And what did Obama have to say in the wake of mounting public outrage about his broken promises? He tried to deflect criticism by saying he's "sorry" people are "finding themselves in this situation" as if he was not directly responsible for their devastating losses. The fact is, Obama lied, and everyone knows it.
What will Obama's lies cost me?
To get an idea of the bigger picture involved, please stop and take a few minutes to watch this video by Dave Ramsey.
Who pays for ObamaCare?
To get an idea of the bigger picture involved, please stop and take a few minutes to watch this video by Dave Ramsey.
Who pays for ObamaCare?
Unhealthy people.
This is one of the key provisions of the law: preexisting conditions. Insurance companies are forced to accept everyone, regardless of how sick they are, or how long they've been sick, or what their bills add up to. They will drain the system of far more than they pay in, due to the costly nature of their illnesses. ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber said if the public had understood that "the healthy people pay in and the sick get money" then the bill would not have passed. The good side of ObamaCare was promoted with the idea that unhealthy people would no longer have to pay higher premiums than those who are healthy, and that the very sick would have coverage. But the bad reality is it has caused all premiums to rise for the unhealthy, and everyone else. So, the unhealthy are not paying more than the healthy - everyone is now paying more, equally.
By forcing private insurance to cover preexisting conditions, the ACA forces private insurance costs to rise. It's not "evil" for the insurance companies to raise their premiums to cover these expenses - it's called math and the cost of doing business. If you're looking for something to call evil, it's the federal law which forces all private insurance to cover these budget-busting conditions.
This is one of the key provisions of the law: preexisting conditions. Insurance companies are forced to accept everyone, regardless of how sick they are, or how long they've been sick, or what their bills add up to. They will drain the system of far more than they pay in, due to the costly nature of their illnesses. ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber said if the public had understood that "the healthy people pay in and the sick get money" then the bill would not have passed. The good side of ObamaCare was promoted with the idea that unhealthy people would no longer have to pay higher premiums than those who are healthy, and that the very sick would have coverage. But the bad reality is it has caused all premiums to rise for the unhealthy, and everyone else. So, the unhealthy are not paying more than the healthy - everyone is now paying more, equally.
By forcing private insurance to cover preexisting conditions, the ACA forces private insurance costs to rise. It's not "evil" for the insurance companies to raise their premiums to cover these expenses - it's called math and the cost of doing business. If you're looking for something to call evil, it's the federal law which forces all private insurance to cover these budget-busting conditions.
Healthy people.
They pay the most. How? Because they are forced to pay the same exorbitant premiums as the unhealthy. They are forced to subsidize the welfare state. They have lost the benefit of lower premiums for living a healthy lifestyle and requiring little from the system. And the healthiest, hardest-working, biggest contributors to society are not eligible for help from their fellow taxpayers. No. They are the ones who must pay.
All taxpayers.
On top of the outrageous premiums you must now pay, the government is using your tax dollars as a carrot/bribe to get others to buy into ObamaCare, and to hide the cost and conceal the real impact of it. The original plan was to entice all the states to set up (and foot the bill for) their own insurance websites/exchanges, rather than have their residents go through the federal portal (healthcare.gov) directly. As a "reward" for states setting up their own exchanges, the government built in "incentives" making state residents eligible to receive federal subsidies. What does that mean? If you buy a plan through a marketplace/exchange set up by a state, the government rewards some people by "refunding" a large percentage of the plans. But, remember, there is no such thing as Free Money from the government. Every dollar "they give" you has to first come out of the pockets of the taxpayer in order to be redistributed to someone else. Every time someone claims a subsidy through a state exchange, they are being lured into a false sense of "affordability," courtesy of your pockets. Unfortunately for Obama, however, only 14 states set up their own exchanges, and so the residents of 36 states are not eligible for subsidies. That means, in most states, people are feeling the cost of ObamaCare, and they don't like how unaffordable it is. So, Obama tried to circumvent the very federal law he created, with the IRS rewriting the law after the fact, declaring that purchasers on both state-run and federally-run exchanges are eligible for federal subsidies, and he's being taken to court over it.
The unborn.
They pay with their lives. If you are pro-life, you need to know that ObamaCare forces you to violate your convictions. For some of you, that will mean you're forced to fund contraceptives. For others, it means funding "day after" emergency contraceptives. And, for the entire population of many states, it even means funding abortions. [Part 3 of my series is on Abortion. Read it, and weep.]
Who else pays?
Medicaid recipients.
They are actually the bulk of ObamaCare enrollees. And, actually, they don't pay, because they are the poorest in our society. Expansion of Medicaid is expansion of the welfare state. They do not contribute to the system, yet they can be the biggest drain of its resources, due to old age and unhealthy lifestyle choices. And, to top it all off, they receive inferior health care as a result... but hey, at least they have coverage from the magnanimous federal government via our tax dollars. Unfortunately, coverage does not equal care.
What's the goal?
Americans still don't feel the full brunt of the cost of these plans because the employer mandate (delayed to 2017) has not kicked in. Once it does, millions more sick people with expensive preexisting conditions will flood the system, and the private insurance companies will have no choice but to raise members' premiums to cover the exorbitant medical bills. Still, most members will not have caught on, and will blame the insurance companies for "unreasonably" high costs. The government will say it has No Choice but to respond to the "high cost of healthcare" by establishing a different system, in the name of fairness, and the next step of moving the entire country into 100% government run healthcare will have begun. How will government meet these rising costs? By demanding higher taxes.
From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.
They pay the most. How? Because they are forced to pay the same exorbitant premiums as the unhealthy. They are forced to subsidize the welfare state. They have lost the benefit of lower premiums for living a healthy lifestyle and requiring little from the system. And the healthiest, hardest-working, biggest contributors to society are not eligible for help from their fellow taxpayers. No. They are the ones who must pay.
All taxpayers.
On top of the outrageous premiums you must now pay, the government is using your tax dollars as a carrot/bribe to get others to buy into ObamaCare, and to hide the cost and conceal the real impact of it. The original plan was to entice all the states to set up (and foot the bill for) their own insurance websites/exchanges, rather than have their residents go through the federal portal (healthcare.gov) directly. As a "reward" for states setting up their own exchanges, the government built in "incentives" making state residents eligible to receive federal subsidies. What does that mean? If you buy a plan through a marketplace/exchange set up by a state, the government rewards some people by "refunding" a large percentage of the plans. But, remember, there is no such thing as Free Money from the government. Every dollar "they give" you has to first come out of the pockets of the taxpayer in order to be redistributed to someone else. Every time someone claims a subsidy through a state exchange, they are being lured into a false sense of "affordability," courtesy of your pockets. Unfortunately for Obama, however, only 14 states set up their own exchanges, and so the residents of 36 states are not eligible for subsidies. That means, in most states, people are feeling the cost of ObamaCare, and they don't like how unaffordable it is. So, Obama tried to circumvent the very federal law he created, with the IRS rewriting the law after the fact, declaring that purchasers on both state-run and federally-run exchanges are eligible for federal subsidies, and he's being taken to court over it.
The unborn.
They pay with their lives. If you are pro-life, you need to know that ObamaCare forces you to violate your convictions. For some of you, that will mean you're forced to fund contraceptives. For others, it means funding "day after" emergency contraceptives. And, for the entire population of many states, it even means funding abortions. [Part 3 of my series is on Abortion. Read it, and weep.]
Who else pays?
Medicaid recipients.
They are actually the bulk of ObamaCare enrollees. And, actually, they don't pay, because they are the poorest in our society. Expansion of Medicaid is expansion of the welfare state. They do not contribute to the system, yet they can be the biggest drain of its resources, due to old age and unhealthy lifestyle choices. And, to top it all off, they receive inferior health care as a result... but hey, at least they have coverage from the magnanimous federal government via our tax dollars. Unfortunately, coverage does not equal care.
What's the goal?
Americans still don't feel the full brunt of the cost of these plans because the employer mandate (delayed to 2017) has not kicked in. Once it does, millions more sick people with expensive preexisting conditions will flood the system, and the private insurance companies will have no choice but to raise members' premiums to cover the exorbitant medical bills. Still, most members will not have caught on, and will blame the insurance companies for "unreasonably" high costs. The government will say it has No Choice but to respond to the "high cost of healthcare" by establishing a different system, in the name of fairness, and the next step of moving the entire country into 100% government run healthcare will have begun. How will government meet these rising costs? By demanding higher taxes.
From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.
The entire ObamaCare structure is based on the government taking from the haves and giving to the have nots. It can only be sustained if the healthy are forced to pay for the unhealthy, and people who choose to live healthy lifestyles are forced to pay for the effects of those who choose to live unhealthy lifestyles. It is a massive redistribution of wealth scheme, and the number of paying enrollees is millions below the number needed to sustain the system, threatening insolvency.
It was designed as a lie. It was designed to force people out of the insurance they liked, and into insurance they didn't like. It was designed to raise costs for private insurers, so they'd have no choice but to raise their rates. It was designed to make doctors leave their practices. It was designed to become insolvent. It was designed to kill freedom. It was designed to make everyone so angry with "evil" insurance companies that people demand the federal government come in and "fix" the problem, once and for all.
The Affordable Care Act was designed to be Unaffordable.
Why? So it would become Free.
It was designed to lead to what Obama calls "a single-payer" system, or the "public plan." That's when every single private insurance company has been forced out of business, and healthcare is only available through public funding = a single source, your tax dollars = from the federal government. ObamaCare was designed to fail. It was designed to become full fledged socialized medicine. Is that right-wing hyperbole or paranoia? No.
Obama told us this himself.
It was designed as a lie. It was designed to force people out of the insurance they liked, and into insurance they didn't like. It was designed to raise costs for private insurers, so they'd have no choice but to raise their rates. It was designed to make doctors leave their practices. It was designed to become insolvent. It was designed to kill freedom. It was designed to make everyone so angry with "evil" insurance companies that people demand the federal government come in and "fix" the problem, once and for all.
The Affordable Care Act was designed to be Unaffordable.
Why? So it would become Free.
It was designed to lead to what Obama calls "a single-payer" system, or the "public plan." That's when every single private insurance company has been forced out of business, and healthcare is only available through public funding = a single source, your tax dollars = from the federal government. ObamaCare was designed to fail. It was designed to become full fledged socialized medicine. Is that right-wing hyperbole or paranoia? No.
Obama told us this himself.
And, once the federal government has engulfed all of health care, what will the quality of our care be then?
See Medicaid recipients, above.
That, my friends, is the bad news. It was stupid to believe that imposing any part of socialized medicine upon our free nation could ever be a good idea. We had the best health care system in the world, and all other nations who already have socialized medicine fled their systems and flocked to our shores when they needed the best. When our national health care system becomes just as bad as theirs, where will they go for quality care? Where will we go?
So... HELP!
See Medicaid recipients, above.
That, my friends, is the bad news. It was stupid to believe that imposing any part of socialized medicine upon our free nation could ever be a good idea. We had the best health care system in the world, and all other nations who already have socialized medicine fled their systems and flocked to our shores when they needed the best. When our national health care system becomes just as bad as theirs, where will they go for quality care? Where will we go?
So... HELP!
If you've read this far, you are waiting for the good news, and I'm here to tell you that there is good news, very good news, and you can begin to learn about it in Part 2 of my series: Alternatives to ObamaCare.
ObamaCare: What's An American To Do? (Part 1 - Introduction)
ObamaCare: What's An American To Do? (Part 2 - Alternatives to ObamaCare)
ObamaCare: What's An American To Do? (Part 3 - Abortion)
ObamaCare: What's An American To Do? (Part 4 - Prescription, Dental, and Vision)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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ObamaCare: What's An American To Do? (Part 1 - Introduction)
ObamaCare: What's An American To Do? (Part 2 - Alternatives to ObamaCare)
ObamaCare: What's An American To Do? (Part 3 - Abortion)
ObamaCare: What's An American To Do? (Part 4 - Prescription, Dental, and Vision)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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