Democrats seek relief from health law penalties
WASHINGTON (AP) — The official sign-up season for President Barack Obama’s health care law may be over, but leading congressional Democrats say millions of Americans facing new tax penalties deserve a second chance.
Three senior House members told The Associated Press that they plan to strongly urge the administration to grant a special sign-up opportunity for uninsured taxpayers who will be facing fines under the law for the first time this year.
The three are Michigan’s Sander Levin, the ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, and Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, and Lloyd Doggett of Texas. All worked to help steer Obama’s law through rancorous congressional debates from 2009-2010.
The lawmakers say they are concerned that many of their constituents will find out about the penalties after it’s already too late for them to sign up for coverage, since open enrollment ended Sunday. SOURCE
I don’t care how many extensions, second chances or extended opportunities they are going to give uninsured taxpayers but it’s not going to make any difference.
No matter how much lipstick you put on this pig called Obamacare; it’s still a PIG!
This year is the first time ordinary Americans will experience the complicated interactions between the health care law and taxes. Based on congressional analysis, tax preparation giant H&R Block says roughly 4 million uninsured people will pay penalties.
The IRS has warned that health-care related issues will make its job harder this filing season and taxpayers should be prepared for long call-center hold times, particularly since the GOP-led Congress has been loath to approve more money for the agency.
The U.S. government is going to penalize people for not buying something they don’t want or can’t afford and of course the Democrats are blaming it ALL on the GOP and a lack of dollars for more agents and/or call takers for the IRS.
Isn’t that always the case with the Dems? Throw more money at the problem because *we ALL know*; spending more of OUR tax dollars in an effort to *force feed* America a product that they don’t want is bound to be a rousing success.
Supporters of the law say an extension would mainly help low- to middle-income uninsured people, the same group that Obama’s coverage expansion was intended to serve. But Republicans may criticize it as another tweak to what they see as unworkable “Obamacare.”
I have personally heard my Congressman, Rep. Pete Sessions TX-32 bemoan the fact that he, and apparently everyone else in Congress falls under the Obamacare umbrella, I don’t know why they ALL would, maybe they don’t, but Sessions has told me, face to face that HE was saddled with Obamacare.
Rep. Sessions also told me that Obamacare was just too big to repeal all at once, saying that it can be done away with, over time, but that due to its size, Obamacare would have to be dismantled piecemeal.
I’m not one to call a U.S. Congressman a LIAR without some really good proof, and I’m not calling Sessions a liar, but I seriously remember Obamacare being PASSED in one fell swoop. It stands to reason, at least to me, that if it was passed in grand fashion it can be repealed in grand fashion as well.
I may be wrong, I hope I am, but I don’t see Obamacare going away, piecemeal or all at once, I don’t think the GOP controlled House and Senate have the courage to stand and make it happen.
But what do I know? I’m just a dumb old blogger trying to keep my head above water.
From a purely financial point of view, even if the penalties do reach the proportions they are discussing, it is cheaper for me and my family to pay the penalties. Medical costs are not unaffordable; at this point the “coverage” is unaffordable when combined with having to pay for the medical care the insurance “covers” - that is, at the level of coverage we can “afford” we are paying for insurance that does not kick in until we pay more than $10,000 out of pocket. If we have a major medical emergency, we are going to be bankrupt with or without the “insurance” “coverage” because of the portion that we have to pay first. (after the 10,000 is met, we are still responsible for 30% of the total) And, big bonus - our family doctor is not considered “in-network” until we move up TWO levels of coverage under ACA.
Three years ago, my insurance coverage cost less than half what it was going to this year, it covered our family doctor as in-network, out of pocket was $2,500, and the coverage after that was 90/10. It is cheaper, now that “Affordable” “Care” is law, to pay everything out of pocket and itemize deductions. We actually have enough medical this year to itemize medical expenses; before the ACA we didn’t pay enough out of pocket (not covered by insurance) to trigger that line item.
Fred, the ACA (obamacare) is a cruel joke played on WE THE PEOPLE. I stand dumbfounded along with others in my cadre of friends that the Supremes went along with the communists on this one law that forces everyone who earns an honest dollar to pay or be fined. I think like you when you see it was passed in one chunk, why in hell can’t it be repealed as a whole piece of legislation? Apparently a lot of the profits that this shitty bill funnels back to it’s supporters would be halted, causing another crisis in the financial world they created. I say a bill to repeal and return to the way things were with the promise to reform the system down the road would be a sensible approach to this situation. It worked for immigration didn’t it?
I agree, Wayne. Put things back the way they were. I can tell you what one part of the plan does. It increases taxes by increasing the percentage amount that can be claimed for payment from 7.5% to 10% before there is any tax reduction from medical payments. I’ve said it before, ACA is a HUGE vessel of excrement, the stench of which we cannot abide. All hail Cloward and Piven…
The bottom line Fred, none of those elected congressman or reps in my opinion give one ioda about you or me and the rest of the country. They only care about who they can scam, or sleep with or rip off. They have a track record if doing exactly what I just said..So there is no doubt OBAMMYCARE is here to stay..that way they can pocket all of the fines that we will be forced to pay….
The kicker is they don’t give a shit….cause OBAMMYCARE doest apply to them..
obamacare can be cancelled in one fell swoop. Just as Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and all the rest cancelled King George and his tyranny in one fell swoop, We The People can too. It is this “one fell swoop” that obama and his ilk are terrified of, and is why they are seeking desparately to do away with the 2nd amendment.
That “one fell swoop” option we have is what We The People use to stop nonsense such as this. If things continue, We The People may….just may become organized once again to let our betters know, that they are NOT OUR BETTERS.
If 60 democrats with pens can force We The People to do what they want us to do, imagine what 60,000 AMERICANS exercising our 2nd amendment can force them to do….or undo.
The unfairness that set our Founding Fathers off, is nothing compared to what is being forced upon We The People. Every scale has its tipping point…and I feel things are starting to tip again.
Just sayin.
Amen, dekare…I feel the same way…and it makes for one feeling down hearted.