Entire ACA upheld by Supreme Court

[bigrun]

[Riot]

Reprinted with permission:

Another day, another Obamacare repeal debate in the House
by Joan McCarter
Tue Jul 10, 2012 at 12:21 PM EDT

For the 31st time in 18 months, Republicans in the House of Representatives are spending today debating a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, with the final vote tomorrow.

This time is extra special, though, since the Supreme Court ruled last month that the ACA is constitutional.

It gives a certain oomph to this iteration of the temper tantrum, the utterly futile "Repeal of Obamacare Act." It will never reach the Senate floor, but if by some miracle it did, it would be vetoed. Like wasting time is going to stop this crop of Republicans.

Demonstrating just how absurd all this is, they actually let Rep. Allen West (R-Crazytown) out in public to act as spokesman.

"I don't think it's symbolic," Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., told ABC Monday evening. "Now that we know that the truth is out there that this is a tax, we need to be able to let the American people know where we stand." [...]

"If you've got orders to take a hill, you're going to keep going until you take the hill," West, R-Fla., explained. "The American people don't want this Patient Protection Affordable Care Act. It's heinous, it's onerous. They want it gone so we as their representatives are going to continue to do what they sent us up here to do which is every way that we possibly can make sure that this bad policy, this bad law is irradiated from our rolls."

Not just repealed. Irradiated. Which is complete gibberish, but it's decisive gibberish. But what's not gibberish is what Republicans are intent upon doing, as Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) explains:

"It's more than just whether or not they will do it and its politics. It is about the philosophy that is behind it and who they are willing to hurt and whose side they're on. That's what this vote is about. [...] It's making health care affordable for those who have it and for those who do not have it. That is what Republicans do not want to have happen."

Of course, it could also be about Republican members of Congress not wanting to lose the very sweet deal that they have for health care.

During the negotiations, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) offered what he thought would be a cute poison pill amendment, requiring that all members of Congress give up their federal employees health benefits, and shop for their insurance on the new exchanges.

Democrats loved the idea, and it was adopted. And now, Republicans want to get rid of it, and keep their very generous health insurance, which they get to keep for their whole lives, if they want to.

So it's lifetime government health care coverage for them, but not for you. That's the Republican vision of freedom.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/0...the-nbsp-House

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by bigrun

Since obama signed the tax cut extension, and wants another....how is it still a bush tax cut?

And i wish they would do away with the ss cut on anyone making above 100k. Why is 250k the magic number??

[Danzig]

Matter of fact.....remove the ss tax that the employer pays rather then the employee...how much money would that free to hire more people's?

[jms62]

Originally Posted by Danzig

Matter of fact.....remove the ss tax that the employer pays rather then the employee...how much money would that free to Put in the CEO's bonus?

FTFY. It isn't 1970 anymore.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by jms62

FTFY. It isn't 1970 anymore.

i was thinking along the lines of small business-most employers are very small businesses, with no ceo's-unless the owner/operator/manager wants to give himself that fancy title. i'm certainly not thinking of titans like gm, ge, etc.

[Riot]

healthcare.gov

The 80/20 Rule: Providing Value and Rebates to Millions of Consumers

The new health reform law, the Affordable Care Act, holds health insurance companies accountable to consumers and ensures that American families are reimbursed if health insurance companies don’t meet a fair standard of value.

Because of the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies now must reveal how much of premium dollars they actually spend on health care and how much they spend on administration, such as salaries and marketing.

This information was not shared with consumers in the past.

Not only is this information made available to consumers for the first time, If an insurance company spends less than 80% of premiums on medical care and quality (or less than 85% in the large group market, which is generally insurance provided through large employers), it must rebate the portion of premium dollars that exceeded this limit.[1] This 80/20 rule is commonly known as the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) rule.

On June 1, 2012, insurance companies nationwide submitted their annual MLR reports for coverage provided in 2011 to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Based on this data, insurance companies that didn’t meet the 80/20 rule will provide nearly 12.8 million Americans with more than $1.1 billion in rebates this year. Americans receiving the rebate will benefit from an average rebate of $151 per household.

Under the new health care law, rebates must be paid by Aug. 1 each year. As a result, 12.8 million Americans will see one of the following:

a rebate check in the mail
a lump-sum reimbursement to the same account that was used to pay the premium if it was paid by credit card or debit card
a direct reduction in their future premiums
their employer providing one of the above rebate methods, or applying the rebate in a manner that benefits its employees.

Here are the expected 2012 rebates:

[bigrun]

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

Matter of fact.....remove the ss tax that the employer pays rather then the employee...how much money would that free to hire more people's?

As a small business owner, I'll say this: if your business has gotten so busy, you need more employees, you hire them. That's the only incentive to hire.

[bigrun]

Originally Posted by Riot

As a small business owner, I'll say this: if your business has gotten so busy, you need more employees, you hire them. That's the only incentive to hire.

What about the job creators, won't they create a bunch of jobs when Mittster is prez?....
btw, read or heard somewhere that the Mitt/Bain sending jobs overseas is a myth!...think i heard that on Faux...

[Danzig]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/p...191746511.html


interesting....but the dem. party will probably tell them to vote for repeal. one, they want to keep the seat, two, it won't matter anyway because the senate won't vote to repeal.