"AFFORDABLE" CARE ACT IS ABOUT TO GET LESS "AFFORDABLE"

Originally, the mandates for businesses to provide health insurance for their employees were supposed to become effective in 2014.  The mandates were delayed because of public concern about the dysfunctional website used to sign up for "Affordable" care and, frankly, because it would have flattened job growth and devastated the economy.  So, the president reluctantly delayed the requirement for business to provide health care insurance to their employees.

Even with those delays, we saw some pretty awful consequences of "Affordable" care.  Millions of Americans lost their insurance policies as insurers who could not meet the federal mandates opted to cancel their policies.  Mostly affected were Americans who purchased their own health insurance.  Since most Americans have health insurance through their employers, they were temporarily spared the painful cancellations and costly premium increases.

But now, the mandates are about to kick in for business.  80 percent of Americans who are insured by their employers will now face the agony of those who had individual health insurance policies.

If you think there was an angry howl about policy cancellations, premium increases, increased co-pays and deductibles before, just wait until employers have to meet all the health insurance mandates under "Affordable" care!  Here's what we're going to see:

• More companies will become Forty-Niners, that is, companies with only 49 employees--since many mandates can be avoided by employers with fewer than 50 workers.  How do you get down to 49 employees?  Simple.  Keep a few key employees on full-time and put all the others on a part-time basis with no insurance, no benefits.  It's already happening all over the county and more medium sized companies are set to become Forty-Niners.
• Companies will try hard not to hire new workers, especially full-time workers who qualify for mandated insurance under Obama Care.  This will flat-line the job growth numbers, which are already dismally low when viewed without the political spin.
• The short term economy will decline, not grow.  Companies that show signs of financial success will be punished by mandates that will cost them millions of dollars.  Smaller companies will be forced out of business altogether. It will be progressively harder to start a new business.
• Long term, the economy will grow dismally slow, like the European economies that absorb extravagant taxes to support big social programs. A sluggish economy will be thought of as the new normal.
• Ultimately, more Americans will be without health insurance than before Obama Care. Deductibles (the part of health care you must pay yourself before insurance begins to pay) averaged $250 a year prior to Obama Care.  Under Obama Care, the average deductible will increase to around $5,000 per year.  Since most folks do not have $5,000 a year to pay this deductible, the effect is that they will not have any health insurance coverage under Obama Care. On top of the huge deductible, Obama Care policies average paying about 70 percent of your hospital bill (vs. 80 to 100 percent prior to Obama Care)!  Do the math and feel the pain.

There is nothing "affordable" about Obama care, either for the US economy or for the family.