Obamatax Counter-intuitive

I sometimes wonder if our elected officials in DC are uninformed or just stupid. You would think that, after years of passing new laws and new taxes they would learn that much of what they do has unintended consequences . . . and almost always, negative and counter-productive results.

But apparently I am wrong.

One of the hidden taxes in Obamacare is a tax on carriers that will be used to fund a portion of this massive dysfunctional program.

A newly unveiled component of President Obama’s healthcare law forcing insurers to pay annual fees is sowing angst in state capitols, where officials view the provision as a $15 billion tax that could disrupt Medicaid programs and other services.

The health insurance providers fee, included in the healthcare reform law over the objections of congressional Republicans, is designed to raise tens of billions of dollars in the coming years.

The Hill

It doesn't matter if you call it a fee or a tax. The end result is the same and premiums WILL go up.

But the Obama administration has their own spin on this.

The Obama administration has countered that the insurer fee is just one of many provisions, which, taken together, would drive costs down.

Any logical person would know that additional costs (fee's, taxes, etc.) ultimately find their way into the price structure. But the low information crowd simply accepts what they are told as fact and return to watching Survivor Island where their real world exists.

But in states that participate in Medicaid managed care plans, the fee would be painful. One study commissioned by the Medicaid Health Plans of America found that states would be on the hook for $15 billion over the next ten years.

“That’s dangerous,” said Bruce Greenstein, Louisiana’s health secretary. “I have deep concerns.”

Greenstein said the fee is tantamount to discrimination, since some plans – including those offered by certain nonprofit healthcare providers – are exempt from the fee. 

Just like the "green energy" initiative, the administration is determined to pick winners and losers based, not on facts, but some arbitrary analysis that seems to presume a non-profit organization is, by definition, more efficient and capable of delivering lower premiums.

Somebody needs to stop this insanity.