The Weekly Standard is reporting on a new poll that found a whopping 77 percent of Americans saying they want the individual mandate in ObamaCare to be delayed or repealed entirely. The poll, which surveyed 2,076 registered voters, found that even 65 percent of Democrats said they don't want any parts of the new plan. Sixty-three percent of those polled said Congress should either improve the law or repeal it.
However, the public's ire is bound to escalate after news broke this morning that a deal was brokered between President Barack Obama and Democrats on the Hill to allow the government to continue to subsidize lawmaker's insurance premiums. In exchange, they will not be eligible to receive the law's tax credits or subsidies. In the past, taxpayers have paid up to 75 percent of their health care premiums - a trend which may now continue.
Meanwhile, the president has granted 185 waivers to unions exempting them from participation in ObamaCare. Even the union representing IRS workers, the same people who will be charged with enforcing the program, is asking for an exemption.
This is in addition to the heads of three of the country's most powerful unions, James P. Hoffa, Joseph Hansen and D. Taylor who wrote an open letter to Congress stating that: “ . . . (U)nless you and the Obama Administration enact an equitable fix, the ACA will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.”
This came shortly after the White House announced that it is delaying implementation of the employer mandate until 2015 - which many believe was done for political purposes to delay the massive economic fallout that will occur when corporations are forced into the expensive program until after the 2014 elections.
The program has also been wracked by a myriad of "computer glitches" and "operational barriers". One of these barriers will prevent the government from verifying eligibility for the program and its subsidies. The only way around this problem is to rely on self-reporting - what The Wall Street Journal called the "liar subsidy." In other words, anyone can claim they qualify for subsidies and receive them whether they are entitled or not. A conservative estimate says this "glitch" alone will cost $250 billion a year.
Meanwhile, average Americans are looking at daily headlines warning about monthly health insurance rate increases ranging from an average of 41 percent in Ohio to 198 percent for some individuals in Georgia. For many people, these hikes will be simply unaffordable. What then?
Lawmakers on the Hill are relieved by the reprieve in their health care costs, but they will be heading home for their summer break to angry constituents who want to know why no one has offered the average American a similar break.
Governor Dave Heineman of Nebraska, who has already warned his constituents that their insurance premiums are going to go up by an average of 30 percent over the next few years, summed it up very well when he acknowledged that the law is in "deep trouble."
"It is time for President Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius to admit the new federal health care law isn’t ready for prime time. The best option for now would be to delay the implementation of the entire federal law for another year. Or better yet, simply admit Obamacare was a mistake and repeal it."
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