Legalization of something does not necessarily make it a good idea. It was once legal to own a slave. Democrats who voted against abolishing slavery in 1864, have been doing their part ever since to enslave Americans to one social program or another. Obamacare is just the latest example.
For years, Americans have been abundantly blessed with a mostly free-market healthcare system in which competent physicians at state-of-the-art healthcare facilities deliver the latest medical care. Yes, that care comes at a cost, but the alternative, which Obamacare will certainly create, is rationing.
Rick McKee / Augusta Chronicle (click to view more cartoons by McKee)
Now that the Supreme Court deemed Obamacare’s individual mandate for what it is — a tax, Democrats are attempting to redefine it as a penalty. It’s just their nature. Why call it a baby when you can reduce it to a fetus? Why bother worrying about illegal aliens when the term “undocumented workers” sounds so much more nebulous? I’ll go halfway; let’s call it a “penalty tax.”
Lies, lies, and more lies
No tax increases on the middle class: Has anyone noticed Democrats are always talking about strengthening the middle class, and yet almost all of their legislation ends up hurting it? It’s the new “trickle down” theory. Take money from the top and sprinkle it over everyone else with no plan for growth. What you get is an increased lower class and a dwindling middle class. To make matters worse, Obama’s administration keeps redefining down the definition of middle class.
President Obama pledged (his word, not mine) “No family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase.” Wall Street Journal’s senior writer Stephen Moore claims almost 75 percent of Obamacare expenses will be funded by those making less than $120,000 annually.
Trying to get ahead by doing a little investing? Think again. Section 1411 of the law will levy a 3.8 percent “Medicare tax” on capital gains, dividends, rents and royalties. The plan also penalizes “Cadillac” insurance plan holders by charging a whopping 40 percent excise tax — unless they are part of the White House’s chosen few who were given permission to opt out. Overall, Obamacare imposes 18 tax increases at a cost of $503 billion mostly funded by the middle class and the elderly via Medicare cuts.
In other words, there are no freebies that aren’t paid for by the same middle class taxpayers Obama purports to defend. Odds are, many of you reading my column will be recipients of this broken promise.
Medicare will be protected: Well, not actually. Funding cuts of more than $500 billion, in addition to more than 150 new provisions, will affect quality care. Like any business, physicians cannot remain in practice when their profits don’t keep pace with costs to do business. Obamacare will bleed them dry. It may not happen overnight, but rest assured, it will happen, and when it does, the government will be right there to fill the gap with government-run facilities. Ask veterans and their families how that’s working out for them.
Medicare’s Patient-Doctor relationship will be preserved: Much like the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS), Obamacare is more about cost control than quality care. The NHS determines medical needs based upon a calculation created by economists, and uses it to determine who does or does not receive treatment. We’re not there yet, but Obamacare pushes us in that direction. Baby steps. And former Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) had the audacity to suggest the Republican vision for healthcare boils down to letting people die. Physician heal thyself!
Obamacare will not add to the deficit: Democrats’ pants should be on fire for this promise. Research done by experts at the Heritage Foundation reveals Obamacare is “a trillion-dollar budget buster” and claims Democrats rigged their numbers using “budget gimmicks, sleights of hand, accounting tricks, and completely implausible assumptions.”
One of the greatest things about America is that we have the opportunity to right our wrongs by way of the ballot box. What the Supreme Court declared as constitutional voters can declare as history come November.
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Susan Stamper Brown is an opinion page columnist, motivational speaker and military advocate who writes about politics, the military, the economy and culture. Email Susan at writestamper@gmail.com or her website at susanstamperbrown.com.
©2012 Susan Stamper Brown. Susan’s column is distributed exclusively by: Cagle Cartoons, Inc., newspaper syndicate. For info contact Cari Dawson Bartley. E-mail Cari@cagle.com, (800) 696-7561
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