STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 15 July 2013

[Demeter]

10. 6 changes that would improve Obamacare: Full plan should be delayed for a year

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/6-changes-that-would-improve-obamacare-2013-07-12?siteid=YAHOOB

Now that President Obama has delayed the employer penalty for not providing health insurance until 2015, as well as the requirement that people applying for health insurance on the exchanges provide verification of income, Congress should also postpone the individual mandate and other provisions of the bill.

This would give lawmakers the opportunity to consider a technical corrections bill to improve some aspects of the Affordable Care Act.

Obama’s dual delay in the employer penalty and individual income verification — which may not be legal, according to Stanford University Law School professor Michael McConnell — are designed to encourage more people to sign up for insurance on the exchanges, the websites where they can purchase health insurance. But the current system will only create confusion. Under Obama’s new regulations, firms can eliminate their health insurance programs, or refrain from setting them up, without paying $2,000 per worker. They send their employees to purchase insurance on the exchanges. A firm with a staff of 100 will not have to incur an expense of $140,000 (the first 30 employees are exempt) in 2014. This will encourage some employers to drop health insurance.

When the firm’s employees go to the exchange and sign up for insurance, they will not have to prove their income. This is important because premiums will be costly, especially for younger people, and the level of premiums depends on household income, with a sliding scale of subsidies for those between 133% and 400% of the poverty line — up to $94,000 for a family of four. (Those who earn under 133% of the poverty line will be signed up for Medicaid.) People who understate their incomes will get lower premiums, no questions asked. Read”Obamacare could eat up your raise.” Leaving in place the individual mandate also drives people to the exchanges. That is why the administration has not delayed that section of the Act. Since people are required to have insurance or pay a penalty — admittedly a low penalty — they will be more likely to sign up for insurance than if the administration had also waived the individual mandate. Read “20-somethings decline even cheap insurance.”

If the exchanges were up and working, then the president’s goal might be achieved — millions of happy customers purchasing health insurance on state exchanges. Exchanges are supposed to be ready by Oct. 1. But only 14 states and the District of Columbia are planning to set up exchanges, and many states are not ready. Neither is the federal government, which has to set up exchanges for remaining states. Setting up an exchange is not a simple matter....


TRUER WORDS WERE NEVER WRITTEN OR SPOKEN....

THE ENTIRE ACT SHOULD BE SHIT-CANNED