“WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is giving a reprieve to up to 6 million Americans who face fines for failing to sign up for health insurance this year, opening up enrollment again during the critical tax filing season.
At the same time, it’s admitting another colossal blunder: 800,000 ObamaCare enrollees were sent the wrong tax information and have been asked to delay filing their returns until they can get the corrected data.”
“Under the revised deadline, enrollment for 2015 opens again from March 15 through April 30 for those who face tax penalties, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.”
“The administration also announced Friday that it mistakenly sent out the wrong tax information to 800,000 customers on the HealthCare.gov website. It’s now asking those people to delay filing their returns until they can get the correct data.”
“California made a similar announcement affecting 100,000 people in the state-run exchange — bringing the total close to 1 million. Another 50,000 may have to resubmit returns already filed.” - Nearly 6M uninsured to get reprieve from ObamaCare fines, New York Post, 02/20/2015
Link to the entire article appears below:
http://nypost.com/2015/02/20/nearly-6-million-uninsured-get-reprieve-from-obamacare-fines/
"When Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, it required health insurers, hospitals, device makers and pharmaceutical companies to share in the cost because they would get a windfall of new, paying customers.
But with an $8 billion tax on insurers due Sept. 30 — the first time the new tax is being collected — the industry is getting help from an unlikely source: taxpayers.
States and the federal government will spend at least $700 million this year to pay the tax for their Medicaid health plans. The three dozen states that use Medicaid managed-care plans will give those insurers more money to cover the new expense. Many of those states — such as Florida, Louisiana and Tennessee — did not expand Medicaid as the law allows, and in the process turned down billions in new federal dollars.
Other insurers are getting some help paying the tax as well. Private insurers are passing the tax onto policyholders in the form of higher premiums. Medicare health plans are getting the tax covered by the federal government via higher reimbursement.
State Medicaid agencies say they have little choice but to pay the tax for health plans they hire to insure their poorest residents. That's because the tax is part of the health plans' costs of doing business. Federal law requires states to pay the companies adequate rates.
"This situation results in the federal government taxing itself and taxing state governments to fund the higher Medicaid managed care payments required to fund the ACA health insurer fee," said a report by Medicaid Health Plans of America, a trade group." - Who's paying the new Obamacare tax? You, USA Today, 08/30/2014
The entire article appears in the link below:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/30/obamacare-tax-healthcare-taxpayers-eight-billion/14861405/
Related: ACA/Obamacare: When the Taxing Authority Pays Its Own Imposed Tax. Huh? No Way! Way!
http://thelastembassy.blogspot.com/2014/04/acaobamacare-when-taxing-authority-pays.html
‘"I can't afford to go out and buy insurance while trying to start a business," said Willmus, of Colorado Springs, Colo. "Obamacare will allow me to be more comfortable at risking what I own." ’
‘Craig Mason, 59, said he has felt tied to his job as an engineer at a large defense contractor because he and his wife needed health insurance. A diabetic, he couldn't get affordable coverage on the individual market.
Now, however, he's thinking of leaving his employer in a few years to focus more on his side job, repairing and building guitars and other string instruments. He also wants to spend more time with his three grandchildren.
"I want to try something different," said Mason, a Germantown, Md., resident. "I don't want to be tied to a large corporation. The Affordable Care Act may be just the vehicle to bridge the gap until I'm eligible for Medicare." ’ - I'm quitting my job. Thanks Obamacare! yahoo.com, 02/25/2014
Apparently Ms. Willmus and Mr. Mason attribute their good fortune to Obamacare or The Affordable Care Act. Ostensibly the entity by the name Obamacare or Affordable Care Act is an exogenous entity that bestows low cost health insurance by its own means. Yes, the proverbial pixie dust generator!
Ms. Willmus and Mr. Mason have forgotten that other taxpayers are the means. That exogenous taxpayers are coercively made to cause the good fortune of a recipient class which Ms. Willmus and Mr. Mason have chosen to join. How very nice indeed!
Link to the Yahoo article appears below:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/im-quitting-job-thanks-obamacare-120600325.html
‘According to a rule published Friday by the Internal Revenue Service, some medical devices used in veterinary practices will be hit by Obamacare’s 2.3 percent device tax. Many of their manufacturers are expected to hike prices, meaning higher veterinary costs for the nation’s pet owners.
The tax will not hit devices that are used exclusively for veterinary purposes. But a host of such devices are manufactured for use in both human health care and veterinary practices. Those devices’ manufacturers will have to pay the tax.
The IRS rule states:
Section 4191 [of the Internal Revenue Code] limits the definition of a taxable medical device to devices described in section 201(h) of the [Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act] that are intended for humans, but does not provide that the device must be intended exclusively for humans. Under existing [Food and Drug Administration] regulations, a device intended for use exclusively in veterinary medicine is not required to be listed as a device with the FDA, whereas a device intended for use in human medicine is required to be listed as a device with the FDA even if the device may also be used in veterinary medicine.
According to the FDA, common “dual use” medical devices are “examination gloves, sterile catheters, infusion pumps, etc.” ‘ - Heritage Foundation
The entire article, Obamacare May Hike Your Pet’s Health Care Bills, appears in the link below:
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/12/07/obamacare-may-hike-your-pets-health-care-bills/
“At the same time, ObamaCare also forbids insurance companies from turning anyone down — a reform called "guaranteed issue" — which also will provide an incentive for some to drop coverage, knowing they can get it back any time.
"Even with the tax penalty ... some healthy people would avoid purchasing coverage until they are sick," Howard Shapiro, director of public policy at the Alliance of Community Health Plans, told regulators .
The problem is that if the young and healthy drop coverage, the result would be what the industry calls a "death spiral." Premiums will climb as the pool of insured gets sicker, causing still more to cancel their policies.
This is just what happened in states that imposed strict community rating and guaranteed issue reforms in the past. In fact, of the eight states that did so, most ended up either dropping the reforms or loosening the rules after they saw enrollment decline and premiums climb.”
Entire article appears in the link below:
http://news.investors.com/021913-644948-only-suckers-will-pay-with-obamacare-plan.aspx?ref=HPLNews
