US uninsured rate continues to plummet, youth signing up most

[AggregateDemand]

It is illegal not to be covered. The trick is to get people covered without punishing them for living, which is an outcome completely foreign to Democrats.

[AggregateDemand]

Nice try.

I know. You almost learned something this time.

[AggregateDemand]

I suspect that after Obama is gone the states not expanding Medicare will slowly creep into the fold. Might take a decade or so and they might find different ways of doing it, but they will eventually find ways of taking the money

Since Congress and the Executive set some of the stipulations for receiving the money, which ultimately determines how much it costs to accept Medcaid expansion, the changing of the guard is important.

[AggregateDemand]

Now that tax season has concluded, and I have more time to reflect on the data generated by my office, the uninsured rate can only be construed as the silver lining in a dark cloud.

This "achievement" has been won by taking the middle class to the woodshed and by threatening them with further financial drubbing, if they refuse to comply. The individual mandate is a diabolical new form of authoritarian government and forced capitalism. People have lost the tax benefit of their dependents, which is a clear violation of ability to pay, but no one seems bothered with the rights of taxpayers.

Proponents rebut by claiming that, for every bad uninsured person who is horsewhipped by the regulation, a good person enjoys a better quality of life with subsidized healthcare. Compliance by everyone makes the nation a better place.

In reality, this is a blatant disregards for the economic rights of American citizens, and the malevolence of this administration is compounded by its decision not to "spread the wealth around", but to hammer down dissent with onerous taxation.

[AggregateDemand]

The above is quite a mouthful, and you lost me with the loss of dependents thing, but moving right along, do you believe any form of taxation, the proceeds of which are used for redistributive purposes, is immoral?

Why would you retreat to an obscure political talking point?

The middle class just got hammered with a 1% of AGI or $95 per month (whichever is higher) surtax for non-coverage. Rather than pay the tax, they removed dependents from their tax return. Those dependency exemptions were granted according to the ability to pay concept. Other taxpayers, who aren't covered by their employers, thus, don't receive the same tax benefits for healthcare, were forced to eat the higher tax bill.

Meanwhile the upper middle and upper classes are left to their own devices because they receive tax-free healthcare compensation from their employers.

Wealth is being distributed from the middle fifth to the bottom fifth. Does that seem like an effective method of spreading the wealth around? Only the brain-dead American electorate could cheerlead something so patently stupid. Only clueless Americans could allow elected officials to plea federal poverty, when we have more than enough money to solve the problem, if only we'll stop binge spending of counter-productive programs that make us less filthy-rich.

Obamacare is surely one of the greatest failures in our history. We could buy healthcare for everyone, but we don't. We could easily empower everyone to buy their own healthcare, but we don't. Instead, we vote for civic malfeasance and moral debauchery on an increasingly grand scale. 

[AggregateDemand]

Well you have a point about employee based plans, and the system should certainly be more means tested, but I think you missed the moral hazard aspect - that those who are not insured, when they have a real need, burden the system typically as freeloaders, at taxpayer and the expense of those who have insurance, because some of the premiums are then diverted to offset some of the free loader expense that the care giver organizations are saddled with. What is conservative or moral about that, in anyone's universe?

Paying a premium on someone's behalf doesn't magically reduce the cost burden they shift to other people. The moral hazard is forcing middle America to cover the marginal cost by stripping away their tax benefits, particularly the tax benefits they get for taking care of their uninsured children who are no longer qualifying children.

[AggregateDemand]

I, a middle class tax payer, got walloped terribly by Obamacare this year.

I do not have health care through an employer so I was forced to buy a plan off a state-run exchange. I was forced to take a significant tax break as a subsidy to cover the cost of my plan. Then, to make matters worse, I was forced to deduct the amount of money I spent on health insurance from my income.

What a terrible world I find myself living in. I now have quality health insurance for just over $100 per month, which is -- sadly -- less than I was paying when I had an employer cover part of the bill for me. What a terrible deal Obamacare is! Repeal it, quick -- I can't stand finally having access to an affordable health care plan

You are one of the people I'm talking about. You got subsidies. You couldn't care less, if they came from your middle class neighbor across the street. As long as you qualified, you're happy.

[AggregateDemand]

The description of the person AD feels sympathetic to is real a magic bullet of a fool. A pool of ambitious small business owners that can somehow turn a hell of a profit but can't seem to balance a checkbook.

You're only underlining your own lack of comprehension. I've explained numerous times that Obamacare has no method to its madness. Some people are randomly penalized. Other people get handouts. Young men pay for mammograms, and old women pay for maternity care. On balance, I've seen far more tax penalties and bad news than happy 1095-A recipients.

Obamacare has no equity. It merely establishes a sort of hell that induces a behavioral response, and no one really gives a damn, as long as the uninsured graph trends downward, and the insurance companies make more money. If they lose money, they've rigged Obamacare to subsidize their losses.

This country really is becoming an Animal Farm. There is no equity in the system, and the only people who refuse to tolerate mistreatment are the wealthy and upwardly mobile. The sheeple complain about conspiracy, but the only conspiracy is their own incompetence.

[AggregateDemand]

Ironically enough, I'm a small business owner. Which is why I had to buy my own insurance off an exchange in the first place.

If you were a small business owner of any repute, you'd know that the exchanges existed long before Obamacare. Maybe you didn't have access in Massachusetts, where you wrecked your system so badly that you had to pass Romneycare, first.

Obamacare has simply dictated what products are allowed to be sold on an exchange.