Obamacare Glitch: Some Families to be Priced out of Health Coverage

Obamacare Glitch: Some Families to be Priced out of Health Coverage

Wednesday, 30 Jan 2013 07:42 PM

Some families could get priced out of health insurance due to what's being called a glitch in President Barack Obama's overhaul law. IRS regulations issued Wednesday failed to fix the problem as liberal backers of the president's plan had hoped.

As a result, some families that can't afford the employer coverage that they are offered on the job will not be able to get financial assistance from the government to buy private health insurance on their own. How many people will be affected is unclear.

The Obama administration says its hands were tied by the way Congress wrote the law. Officials said the administration tried to mitigate the impact. Families that can't get coverage because of the glitch will not face a tax penalty for remaining uninsured, the IRS rules said.

Obamacare: Massive New Rules Revealed for 2013

"This is a very significant problem, and we have urged that it be fixed," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, an advocacy group that supported the overhaul from its early days. "It is clear that the only way this can be fixed is through legislation and not the regulatory process."

But there's not much hope for an immediate fix from Congress, since the House is controlled by Republicans who would still like to see the whole law repealed.

The affordability glitch is one of a series of problems coming into sharper focus as the law moves to full implementation.

Starting Oct. 1, many middle-class uninsured will be able to sign up for government-subsidized private coverage through new healthcare marketplaces known as exchanges. Coverage will be effective Jan. 1.

Low-income people will be steered to expanded safety-net programs. At the same time, virtually all Americans will be required to carry health insurance, either through an employer, a government program, or by buying their own plan.

Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus, an advocacy group for children, cited estimates that close to 500,000 children could remain uninsured because of the glitch. "The children's community is disappointed by the administration's decision to deny access to coverage for children based on a bogus definition of affordability," Lesley said in a statement.

The problem seems to be the way the law defined affordable.

Congress said affordable coverage can't cost more than 9.5 percent of family income. People with coverage the law considers affordable cannot get subsidies to go into the new insurance markets. The purpose of that restriction was to prevent a stampede away from employer coverage.

Congress went on to say that what counts as affordable is keyed to the cost of self-only coverage offered to an individual worker, not his or her family.

A typical workplace plan costs about $5,600 for an individual worker. But the cost of family coverage is nearly three times higher, about $15,700, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

So if the employer isn't willing to chip in for family premiums — as most big companies already do — some families will be out of luck. They may not be able to afford the full premium on their own, and they'd be locked out of the subsidies in the healthcare overhaul law.

Obamacare: Massive New Rules Revealed for 2013

Employers are relieved that the Obama administration didn't try to put the cost of providing family coverage on them.

"They are bound by the law and cannot extend further than what the law provides," said Neil Trautwein, a vice president of the National Retail Federation.

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com Obamacare Glitch: Some Families to be Priced out of Health Coverage

Revealed for first time: Sordid origins of Obamacare legislation traced to Soros group, marketed by slew of radicals.

Posted on October 27, 2011 at 11:29 AM EST

NEW YORK — A book released this week documents for the first time the radical origins of President Obama’s healthcare law, revealing the principal author of the foundation for the legislation while tracing the law itself to a group funded by George Soros.

“Red Army: The radical network that must be defeated to save America” also finds the founders of the controversial Apollo Alliance, run by a slew of radicals, helped craft the marketing campaign behind the healthcare initiative.

The new book, by authors Aaron Klein and Brfenda J. Elliott, purports to expose the radical socialist network that seized political power in Washington over decades, shaped Obama’s presidential agenda and threatens the very future of the U.S.

On Obamacare, “Red Army” documents how the legislation, deliberately masked by moderate, populist rhetoric, was carefully crafted and perfected over the course of decades and is a direct product of laborious work by a coalition of radical groups and activists, many with socialist designs.

Those activists seek to “reform” the U.S. healthcare industry, which accounts for a significant portion of the U.S. capitalist enterprise.

“Red Army” reveals the principal author of the foundation for Obamacare is third generation progressive academic Jacob S. Hacker, a Yale professor who is an expert on the politics of U.S. health and social policy.

Hacker is author of Health Care for America, the centerpiece of the George Soros–funded Economic Policy Institute’s Agenda for Shared Prosperity. “Red Army” finds Hacker’s proposal for so-called guaranteed, affordable healthcare for all Americans is the foundation for Obama’s healthcare plan.

Hacker’s plan had its origins in the professor’s multiple other major policy papers on healthcare, including a 2001 plan for the Covering America project.

In 2003, Hacker first devised a public health insurance program called “Medicare Plus,” which would offer coverage to all legal residents not otherwise covered by Medicare or employer-sponsored insurance. Employers would be required to either provide a minimum level of coverage to their workers or pay a payroll tax.

That plan was the basis for the U.S. National Healthcare Insurance Act, which was first introduced in February 2, 2005, in the House by Representative John Conyers. That act was sponsored by several other congressmen, all members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

“Red Army” documents how the Progressive Caucus was founded by the Democrat Socialists of America. The book charges the caucus works as a Marxist-socialist bloc in congress to introduce progressive legislation with socialist intent.

Chavez imaging guru, extremists

“Red Army” documents how a little-known marketing outfit called the Herndon Alliance helped to market Obamacare, even provided suggestions on which words supporters should use the promote the bill.

Acceptable words include “quality affordable health care”; “American solutions”; “giving security and peace of mind”; “fair rules”; “government as watchdog”; “smart investments, investing in the future”; and “affordable health plans.”

Unacceptable words include “universal health care”; “Canadian style health care”; “Medicare for All”; “regulations”; “free”; “government or public health care”; and “wellness.”

“Red Army” found the research component of the Herndon Alliance was provided by Celinda Lake, who teamed up with a marketing research firm, American Environics. AE uses social-values surveys to gauge public opinion.

Lake herself worked for a number of leftist institutions and unions, including the AFL-CIO and the SEIU. She also serves on the board of directors of the Progressive Congress Action Fund alongside Robert Borosage, whose Healthcare for America Now anticipated spending $42 million in its final push for passage of Obamacare.

AE was founded in 2004 by a team of American strategists and Canadian researchers. In April 2005, current AE managing partners Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger started AE’s American branch. One year before, Shellengerger did imaging for Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

Nordhaus and Shellenberger cofounded the Apollo Alliance sometime around 2002 and were two of its original national board members.

“Red Army” exposes how Apollo helped draft not only the president’s green jobs programs, but also the $787 billion economic stimulus bill and other proposed new energy legislation.

Apollo is led by a slew of radicals,including Van Jones, Jeff Jones, who heads Apollo’s New York branch and is a former top leader of the Weatherman terrorist organization, and Joel Rogers, a founder of the socialist New Party. Obama’s controversial former “green” jobs czar, Van Jones, sits on Apollo’s board.

Radicals lobying

Meanwhile, several major groups were founded to lobby for the legislation that became Obama’s healthcare law.

Healthcare-NOW, not to be confused with the organization Health Care for America Now, was established in 2004 for one purpose—to lobby on behalf of single-payer healthcare. Healthcare-NOW’s broad base includes socialist, labor, church, and community organizations and, most notably, Physicians for a National Health Program.
Healthcare-NOW co-chairs include Dr. Quentin D. Young, who is considered father of the single-payer movement. Young advised Obama during his days as a senator. Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the radical Code Pink anti-war group, is a member of Healthcare-NOW’s board of directors.

Another major group leading the charge to transform healthcare has been Campaign for America’s Future. CAF was founded in 1990 by Robert L. Borosage. Roger Hickey, cofounder of the Soros-funded Economic Policy Institute which “Red Army” ties to the healthcare bill, is credited as being a CAF cofounder as well.

CAF unveiled the lobby, Health Care for America Now, or HCAN, which “Red Army” documents deceptively maintains that it is a “national grassroots campaign.”

HCAN’s lead member organizations include ACORN; MoveOrg; AFSCME; Americans United for Change; and Planned Parenthood Federation of America; SEIU; United Food and Commercial Workers; and the Soros-funded Center for American Progress Action Fund, which is highly influential in advising the White House.

Obama accused of deliberately overloading U.S. economy

“Red Army” documents how Obama and progressive Democrats are deliberately overloading the U.S. financial system, using socialist designs to remake the economy.
The book, with nearly 1,500 endnotes, documents how these radicals aim to remake the American financial system with massive government control.

“Red Army” contains a number of other major scoops while exposing the radical socialist network that seized political power in Washington over decades, shaped Obama’s presidential agenda and threatens the very future of the U.S.

Some other highlights from “Red Army”:
*The existence of a powerful “Marxist-socialist” bloc in Congress (explicitly formed as an arm of the Democratic Socialists of America) and how it is behind legislation in areas that affect all Americans, including the complete socialization of health care and comprehensive immigration reform, which, the book exposes, seeks to change the very nature of the American electorate.
*In two chapters that every American must read, entirely new information is laid bare on the left’s unprecedented assault on America’s already over-liberalized education system.
*The multipronged policy offensive aimed at disarming America by emboldening its enemies within and without, spurning traditional allies, subjecting the nation to the authority of foreign tribunals and systematically dismantling the U.S. military.
*How elements of the news media not only collude with these radical groups but are in some cases members of the very extremist organizations they ought to be investigating.

“Red Army” is published by Broadside Books, an imprint of Harper Collins.

Klein is WND’s senior reporter and Jerusalem bureau chief. He hosts Aaron Klein Investigative Radio on New York’s WABC Radio. He is a regular guest on the Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network.

Elliott is a New York Times best-selling author, researcher and historian.

Revealed for first time: Sordid origins of Obamacare legislation traced to Soros group, marketed by slew of radicals. « Klein Online

Next step: Millions of retired military will be told they are no longer eligible for TriCare health insurance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HAPPY2BME

Next step: Millions of retired military will be told they are no longer eligible for TriCare health insurance.

Its already being talked about

even those that get coverage will be sorely disapointed.............. Oh Snap