We Passed It. We’re About To Find Out What’s In It.

I mean "we." It doesn't matter how you voted in the last election, or how your Congressman voted on the healthcare reform legislation. Whatever Congress and the President did, we did. Welcome to the Republic.  Michael Tanner at CATO explains what we passed.

We were told that we had to pass healthcare reform because Americans can't afford insurance. Okay. Doesn't that mean that premiums should go down now?

[T]he RAND Corporation released a report concluding that not only would the hard-won health care package fail to curb premium increases, but the bill would drive premiums up as much as 17 percent for young people.

We were also told by the President, over and over again, that "if you like your health care plan, you get to keep it." No.

[T]he Congressional Budget Office now says that as many as 10 million workers will lose their current insurance under the bill. Some of those will have to buy new insurance through the government-run exchanges. Millions more will be thrown onto Medicaid.

That's "as many as ten million" people the President lied to. Well, at least we can rest assured that the healthcare bill we passed will reduce spending and help us balance the budget. Not.

[T]he government's chief actuary released his report on the bill recently, showing that the bill will actually increase health care spending by $311 billion over the next 10 years.

Tanner's piece has a lot more of this, and I urge you to read it. Diana Furchtgott-Roth at the Manhattan Institute considers the effects of the new bill on unskilled workers.

Under the new law, every employer with more than 50 workers will either have to offer health insurance or pay an annual penalty. The penalty for full-time employees is $2,000 per worker. For part-timers, employers will pay $2,000 for each "full-time equivalent worker," a block of 30 weekly hours of part-time work by the same or different employees.

Small enterprises with 50 employees or fewer will be the big winners. If they don't hire too many workers - another government-induced disincentive for hiring in this weak labor market - and stay within the 50-person limit, these firms won't have to provide health insurance and will have a cost advantage over the others.

In other words, the Healthcare Bill will penalize small firms that hire too many (more than 50) workers. These are the kind of businesses that hire a lot of first time, low-skilled workers. It creates a powerful incentive not to hire too many people, and to invest instead in labor-saving alternatives.

That's okay. All the job seekers who are disappointed because of this will get free healthcare. Free to them, at least. The rest of us will have to pony up for their care. This is what we did.

We did it at a time when the Federal Government was already on the path to insolvency. I say, if you are headed for the precipice at high speed, might as well put your foot on the accelerator. At least you'll get a better view. For a bit.

Comments

[William]

Harry Reid and Nancy Polosi, Themla & Louise at the wheel... Yee, Haa!

[Vance]

You may deduct qiulifaed medical expenses you pay for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents, including a person you claim as a dependent under a Multiple Support Agreement. You can also deduct medical expenses you paid for someone who would have qiulifaed as your dependent for the purpose of taking personal exemptions except that the person did not meet the gross income or joint return test. You deduct medical expenses on Form 1040, Schedule A (PDF), Itemized Deductions. The total of all allowable medical expenses must be reduced by 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income. For more information, refer to Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses.