Obamacare: Supply and Demand

Recently on the forums, I argued that ObamaCare will only raise the demand for, but not the supply of, health care. Doug Hughes pointed me to this link to show me that there is, indeed, an increase of supply of health care.

But, by just going through what he sent me, I would like to highlight some interesting points about ObamaCare that you might not have known about.

Here we go...

"Require U.S. citizens and legal residents to have qualifying health coverage. Those without coverage pay a tax penalty of the greater of $695 per year up to a maximum of three times that amount ($2,085) per family or 2.5% of household income."

How bout that! You will HAVE to have insurance. But not just ANY insurance: QUALIFYING insurance! I wish I were a healthcare lobbyist who got to define "qualifying"!!!

"States that have already expanded eligibility to adults with incomes up to 100% FPL will receive a phased-in increase in the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) for non-pregnant childless adults so that by 2019 they receive the same federal financing as other states"

Sounds expensive!... and there are a lot of acronyms.

"Increase the Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) tax rate on wages by 0.9% (from 1.45% to 2.35%) on earnings over $200,000 for individual taxpayers and $250,000 for married couples filing jointly and impose a 3.8% tax on unearned income for higher-income taxpayers (thresholds are not indexed)."

Hmmm....

"Impose new annual fees on the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, according to the following schedule:
– $2.8 billion in 2012-2013;
– $3.0 billion in 2014-2016;
– $4.0 billion in 2017;
– $4.1 billion in 2018; and
– $2.8 billion in 2019 and later.
• Impose an annual fee on the health insurance sector, according to the following schedule:
– $8 billion in 2014;
– $11.3 billion in 2015-2016;
– $13.9 billion in 2017;
– $14.3 billion in 2018
– For subsequent years, the fee shall be the amount from the previous year increased by the rate of premium growth.
For non-profit insurers, only 50% of net premiums are taken into account in calculating the fee."

Wow! They're increasing the cost of doing business!! EVEN FOR NON-PROFITS!!

"Impose a tax of 10% on the amount paid for indoor tanning services."

... what?

"Impose an excise tax of 2.3% on the sale of any taxable medical device"

Yay! Health care costs HAVE to go up!

"Create state-based American Health Benefit Exchanges and Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Exchanges, administered by a governmental agency or non-profit organization, through which individuals and small businesses with up to 100 employees can purchase qualified coverage."

Yay! More bureaucracy! I can feel the efficiency!

Also, who's going to be the ones appointing the members of these "SHOP"s? I bet it WON'T be people who have a clear stake in the results of their decisions!

"Require the Office of Personnel Management to contract with insurers to offer at least two multi-state plans in each Exchange. At least one plan must be offered by a non-profit entity and at least one plan must not provide coverage for abortions beyond those permitted by federal law."

This one was interesting. It's mandating that there be new multi-state insurance companies that HAVE to provide insurance to the populace.

Here's a doozy:
"Authorize the Food and Drug Administration to approve generic versions of biologic drugs and grant biologics manufacturers 12 years of exclusive use before generics can be developed."

Mamma mia!

...Speaking of mothers:
"Establish the National Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council to coordinate federal prevention, wellness, and public health activities. Develop a national strategy to improve the nation’s health.... Appropriate $7 billion in funding for fiscal years 2010 through 2015 and $2 billion for each fiscal year after 2015"

Nanny state, indeed! The government has decided that you shouldn't be responsible for your own health! God Bless Progressives! (oh, by the way, it'll cost you well over $20 billion in your life time)

"Provide grants for up to five years to small employers that establish wellness programs"

Nice! Start a business, tell your employers to get some exercise... BOOM! MONAY! .... oh wait... I forgot to include the part about "filling out the crippling paper work that will cost you the aid of a lawyer" part.

Basically this means that you have to have enough money to a) start a business, b) also know what all this legal jargon actually MEANS, c) hire a lawyer, and d) know enough about physical fitness in order to start a business.

And, finally, on the last page, a huge slew of "let's create incentives for people to become doctors" (under the "workforce" heading).

SO! It probably will increase supply and it DEFINITELY will increase demand.

But it's going to cost us Billions upon billions of dollars.

One Last Thought

Throughout reading that .pdf file, it was amazing how much it looked like the federal government was able to control the state governments. It seems as though, through Medicare, the federal government is simply allowed to cram this down the throats of any state!

The government is taking your money to pay for these programs. You're paying to train those doctors and you're paying to help other people. However, we can't call it charity, because it's all paid for through taxes.