It has been a while since we looked at the state of Obamacare.  Here is a limited update.  What we will learn is that all is not well even though the program's proponents tell us otherwise.  The few examples below are expounded upon at the links that follow.  Some quotes provide snippets worth considering.
 
1.  Obamacare implications for employees and employers:  "Welcome to the strange new world of small-business hiring under ObamaCare. The law requires firms with 50 or more "full-time equivalent workers" to offer health plans to employees who work more than 30 hours a week. (The law says "equivalent" because two 15 hour a week workers equal one full-time worker.) Employers that pass the 50-employee threshold and don't offer insurance face a $2,000 penalty for each uncovered worker beyond 30 employees. So by hiring the 50th worker, the firm pays a penalty on the previous 20 as well."
 
"A 2011 Hudson Institute study estimates that this insurance mandate will cost the franchise industry $6.4 billion and put 3.2 million jobs "at risk."
 
"The insurance mandate is so onerous for small firms that Stephen Caldeira, president of the International Franchise Association, predicts that 'Many stores will have to cut worker hours out of necessity. It could be the difference between staying in business or going out of business.'"
 
2.  Obamacare adds $6.2 trillion to the federal deficit:  "Obamacare will increase the long-term federal deficit by $6.2 trillion, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released today [23 Feb 20013]."  Adding $6.2 trillion to our already out of control deficit is not a good idea. 
 
"Obama told a joint-session of Congress in September 2009. “I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit, now or in the future, period.”  But, according to the GAO, it does add to the deficit and the President did sign the bill into law but has not yet acknowledged that the facts contradict his solumn promise.  And given his past behavior he will not acknowledge his violation of that promise anytime soon much less do anything about it.  
 
 
3.  The British National Health Service (NHS) was the model used for Obamacare:  Supporters of Obamacare "openly and proudly" acknowledged this fact.  It is, therefore, "reasonable to expect that what the NHS has done in England will be done here."   
 
Ultimate decision makers regarding what healthcare actions can and cannot be taken are controlled by the British NHS's National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE).  The Obamacare version of NICE is the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).  "IPAB is tasked with deciding which medical treatments are deemed 'cost-effective' and which are not. IPAB then recommends to Congress that the former be authorized for payment and the latter not."  Even though IPAB members are unelected officials their "recommendations have the effect of automatic law."  "In a practical sense, the IPAB is practicing medicine by making healthcare payment law."  So, what are some decisions NICE has made for British citizens needing healthcare services?  Here are two examples:  "Kidney dialysis after 55 years of age and heart surgery after 65 have been classified as 'not cost effective'."  British citizens over those thresholds are "...allowed to die (passively) by government mandate."  Does anyone think that can't happen here?  Check out the article for more insight.
 
 
4.  Another peek at how well Britian's NHS is treating its patients:  " At least 1,165 people starved to death while they were patients in Britain's National Health Service hospitals over the past four years."
 
 
5.  Obamacare language regarding state insurance "exchanges" has been changed to read "marketplaces":  But, as it turns out they are far from being marketplaces.  Instead, so called marketplaces in each state will cost taxpayers "millions of dollars each year to operate, even though they're effectively controlled by the federal government."  "Government-run exchanges are not marketplaces; they are government agencies set up to impose Obamacare. In contrast, private health insurance exchanges are part of the real marketplace, selling a wide range of health insurance to the public."
 
 
If any of these items sparked your interest, check out those that follow.   George Burns