The ObamaTax hits just keep on coming

As we noted earlier, "[m]illions of smokers could be priced out of health insurance because of tobacco penalties in [The ObamaTax]."

Typically, insurers ding smokers (well, tobacco users, really) 30% or more. Under the ObamaTax, this is likely to rise to 50% over non-smoker rates.

That is, they were supposed to.

But just like the (Evil) Employer Mandate, this integral part of the ObamaTax is is coming up short:

"The Obama administration ... has quietly notified insurers that a computer system glitch will limit penalties that the law says the companies may charge smokers."

Actually, given that Ms Shecantbeserious (et al) can't confirm employer group eligibility, and will rely on the "honor system" for subsidies, how many folks would admit to tobacco use anyway? And since plans are guaranteed issue, who cares how accurately an application is completed?

After all, who's to know?

Of COURSE your sensitive, PRIVATE health info is safe....

And speaking of the soon-to-be-online (maybe) Data Hub, isn't it nice to know that all your info is totally secure?

Totally:

"The IRS Mistakenly Exposed Thousands of Social Security Numbers

The incident involves the unwitting exposure of "tens of thousands" of Social Security numbers"

Doesn't that just make you feel so secure?

We Are the Baby Daddy

The upcoming generation of "children" have learned to expect everything and be responsible for nothing. Kind of sounds like our president, doesn't it?  

Helicopter mom's, trophy's for attendance and participation, sports that don't keep score so no one feels left out have contributed to this mess.

Even adults get in on the game. 

You can stay on mommy and daddy's health insurance until your are 26. If you buy a home you can't afford just blame the bank and someone will bail you out.

Or maybe you can afford the home but are now upside down in your mortgage.

No problem.

Now we find out there is a way for two grad students living off grants and stipends have managed to have a baby and get free health insurance for their newborn. Ari Friedman and wife Tara Mendola are living large thanks to hard working taxpayers.

Both of us are graduate students living in Philadelphia, and our universities provide us with health insurance as part of our stipends. But adding a dependent to our coverage is prohibitively expensive—60 percent greater than even unsubsidized CHIP. So we applied for CHIP, grateful that it was one of the few entitlement programs still available to students.

Health Affairs

Sounds like all that education failed to impart a bit of common sense. Why should they let a little thing like "How will we pay for this?" interfere with their sexual activities.

Must be followers of Sandra Fluke.

In late May, more than a month after our son was born, we received a letter indicating that Erik was not eligible for Medicaid, as anticipated. But the rejection letter made no mention of passing the application along to CHIP. After dozens of phone calls, we learned that our documentation had been lost in the Medicaid system for a second time and had not reached Independence Blue Cross. We were told to fax the documentation to Medicaid for a third time and request reconsideration—effectively resetting the clock and beginning the entire process anew. We never learned why the application hadn’t been passed on originally, or why the only way to correct the problem was to start again.

By this point Erik was forty-four days old. Our own insurance provided partial coverage for only his first thirty days. Unwilling to go without some form of insurance, we bought catastrophic coverage for Erik for $90 per month with a $2,500 deductible and a $5,000 out-of-pocket maximum. Our expenses began to pile up: $600 from the hospital for the delivery, $500 in well-baby visits and vaccinations, and $400 for a minor surgical procedure, all of which we paid out of pocket. These were all relatively routine expenses for a healthy, full-term baby; had Erik been premature or sick in any way, the cost would have been much higher. We were lucky. Angry, discouraged, and scared, but lucky.

How much do you want to bet these folks will be guests of the president at one of his Obamacare sales pitch events?

Health Care Good News, and Bad....

■ Japanese scientists have begun growing a liver:

"A group in Yokohama reported it has grown a primitive liver in a petri dish using a person's skin cells"

It's not a complete liver, but it's a big step forward in organ replacement. What will be very interesting is the race between the organic "growers" and the 3D printer folks.

■ Sadly, not all of these efforts work out:

"A toddler who in April became the youngest person ever to receive a bioengineered organ has died ...  implanted a bioengineered windpipe made from plastic fibers to which the girl’s own cells, taken from her bone marrow, were added"

There have been only a handful of these procedures done at all, and little Hannah Warren (who would have turned 3 next month) was the first here in the States.

[Hat Tip: FoIB Holly R]

Eat Your Vegetables and Buy Health Insurance

Moms are great at reminding us of what we need to do.   

• Eat your vegetables
• Say your prayers
• Don't run with scissors
• You could put your eye out
• You will go blind if you keep doing that
• Buy health insurance

OK, that last one is the 2014 version.

Even though Obamacare is the law of the land, and supposedly the American public wanted free health care, the administration is still trying to peddle their plan and convince folks this is a good idea.

They put up Web ads on Facebook and Allrecipes.com alongside slogans such as “Moms know best: ‘Get yourself health insurance.’ ” They have enlisted the help of parent-activist groups such as Moms Rising, which has already begun mobilizing its vast network of more than 1 million members and 3 million e-mail subscribers on behalf of the health-care law.

They are collaborating with Elle and Cosmopolitan magazines, organizing mom-oriented wine-and-cheese parties and preparing commercials that will run during shows popular with mothers, such as “Good Morning America.” 

Washington Post

Sounds like a good use of our tax dollars.

Facebook needs the ad revenue.

Lack of Employer Reporting bogus excuse

The inability to get employer reporting up and running is the excuse De Jour for waiving penalities and not substantiating income when it comes to subsidies. It is also BS and a great example of poorly written bill by people with no clue what they are doing. ACA was passed in 2010. Prior to that;

As an employer I report quarterly to my State everyone I employee and how much I pay them for unemployment benefit purposes. When someone files a claim I promptly get notice, or multiple, requesting that I verify this information.

As an employer SS and Medicare taxes are paid monthly or quarterly for all employees.

When it comes to verifying income the States and Federal government are already sitting on the vast majority of this info. There is no need to create any employer reporting or new process to accomplish this. They have had this info for decades and well before the bill was written or passed. If the government can't pass this data between buildings with a 3 year advance notice then trying to collect it a second time from employers is going to really be a disaster.

In regards to other coverage, as a payor we are already required to report our population of insured over 55 to CMS. I rather we report everyone as it is easier than parsing member roles and hoping you don't miss someone. Creating an extract to send everyone is much easier than an extract to send only certain people CMS wants some of whom must be manually identified.

So here now is the federal government perplexed about how they are going to get data on those privately insured, as they continue to tell us to not send everyone privately insured under the current reporting mechanism. To remove the filters that limit what is sent now is a very easy process. To send the file more frequently is an easy process.

To create an entirely new process with new data set and reporting requirements....not so easy.

You can't help but ask, did they write this bill trying to fail or are they really this inept?

ObamaTax: Not Ready for Prime Time

Fresh on the heels of the ObamaTax (Evil) Employer Mandate Reprieve comes this news:

"The Obama administration announced Friday that it would significantly scale back the health law’s requirements that new insurance marketplaces verify consumers’ income and health insurance status."

Hunh?!

The plan is that, for the 16 states (plus DC) that have opted to run their own Exchanges (as opposed to the other 42 who've tasked Ms Shecantbeserious and her minions with that job), the gummint will rely on its citizens' sacred honor as to whether or not they're eligible for their employer's group plan, and thus (subject to income requirements) eligible for subsidies.

Which is, in the words of St Homer of Simpson, a great big "D'oh!"

As co-blogger Bob pointed out, when Ms Shecatbeserious relaxed the employer reporting regs, she made it impossible for the folks in capital City to cross-check this information in the first place. And I'm sure that folks will be just as honest regarding their income eligibility.

Turns out that the ObamaTax is quite the fiscal fiasco.

Gee, who'da thunk it?