Huh? Repeal the PPACA to Help Hispanics and African-Americans ? ? ?
Crooks and Liars carries a conversation by Repub Senator Ted Cruz with Candy Crowley on CNN. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is making it his crusade to repeal the PPACA so as not to cause harm to the most vulnerable of America who potentially are losing their jobs, the Hispanics and African-Americans and singe moms. To real the PPACA do so, he is asking the House to pass a budget which specifically funds everything the government needs with the exception of funding for the PPACA. Factcheck.org has debunked the lost job claim here: GOPS’s ‘Job-Killing’ Whopper, Again and previously. There is no basis for Senator Cruz’s claim for lost jobs due to the PPACA.
As we’ve said before (a few times), experts project that the law will cause a small loss of low-wage jobs — and also some gains in better-paid jobs in the health care and insurance industries.
It’s also expected that more workers will decide to retire earlier, or work fewer hours, when they no longer need employer-sponsored insurance and can obtain it on their own with help from federal subsidies. But that just means fewer people willing to work — and it will free up jobs for those who want them. If anything, that could reduce the jobless rate.
Maybe Senator Cruz is implying employers will cut hours to less than 30 per week? Our own Spencer England has done a couple of posts on the topic of cutting hours to less than 30 hours. It just is not happening as the critics and naysayers are claiming. Obamacare, The Sequester and Part Time Employment and here: Obamacare and Employment.
Is the PPACA hurting Hispanics and African Americans as Senator Cruz says? The US Department of Health Says No. 913,000 Latino have already benefited and 509,000 African-Americans to date. If anything, it appears that more of the minorities Mr. Cruz claims are being hurt are being helped by the PPACA.
“Federal Healthcare Can Not Work” according to former Senator Jim DeMint who recently became the Heritage Pres . . .
Dean Howard and Heritage Pres Jim DeMint face off on CNN as reported by Crooks and Liars. Former Repub Senator Demint: DeMint explained that Heritage Action had launched a nine-city tour to rally Americans in support of repealing Obamacare because it was an “unfair and un-American law.”
“Federal health care is not going to provide good health care to Americans,” DeMint insisted. “You can’t find a federal program that’s working effectively.”
Howard Dean Gov. of Vermont “Jim, I disagree with that,” former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D) replied. “I think Medicare works pretty darn well and people like it. And that’s a federal program that works very well for people.”
Demint: (Medicare) “It’s tens of trillions of dollars in debt because it’s been mismanaged, it’s going to leave huge debts onto our children, and more and more doctors won’t even see a Medicare-insured patient,” DeMint replied. “So, it is not going to work for the future.” The former South Carolina senator continued: “And as we put more people on Medicare and Medicaid, and that’s what Obamacare is going to do, is to push more people into Medicaid-style plans, fewer and fewer doctors are going to see these folks. So, we need to make sure we get health insurance that doctors will actually take.” The former South Carolina senator continued: “And as we put more people on Medicare and Medicaid, and that’s what Obamacare is going to do, is to push more people into Medicaid-style plans, fewer and fewer doctors are going to see these folks. So, we need to make sure we get health insurance that doctors will actually take.”
Howard Dean: “I’m sure it won’t surprise you to know that I disagree with that,” Dean said before he was interrupted by Bash.
CNN’s Bash: “I’m so shocked,” she snarked, promising to allow Dean to respond following a commercial break.
Howard Dean (after break): “Before we get to that, let me get a little equal time on health care,” Dean demanded. “You know, I was not a supporter of Obamacare when it passed. I am now. I think this ought to be implemented. You know, in our little medical office in Burlington, Vermont, we’ve discovered that premiums are going to be cut in half for the five people who work for my wife and her partners. So, this is going to make a big difference.”
While the PPACA is not the end all of healthcare plans, it still is a step forward in the right direction which has not been addressed since Hillarycare failed in 1993. To the question, are Doctors accepting Medicare patients? More Doctors Accepting Medicare Patients
“The number of physicians accepting new Medicare patients rose by one-third between 2007 and 2011 and is now higher than the number of physicians accepting new private insurance patients, according to a Department of Health and Human Services report obtained by USA TODAY.”
Someone is blowing smoke up . . . well, ahhh again.
Texas Representative Louie Gohmert’s Healthcare Hooey
Factcheck.org reports on Repub Texas Rep Louis Gohmert who claims under the PPACA a:
“poor guy out there making $14,000″ is ‘going to pay extra income tax if he cannot afford to pay the several thousand dollars for an Obamacare policy.’”
While there are issues with people who just exceed 400% FPL getting subsidies, Rep Gohmert of Texas claim is erroneous. A person making $14,000 in income is at 122% of FPL and would be subsidy eligible. Under the PPACA, if a citizen lives in a state which expands Medicaid to 138% FPL, the person making $14,000 would be covered under it. If a citizen lives in a state “like Texas” which chooses to not expand Medicaid, the person would be exempt from the mandate or additional income tax as Gohmert claims. A rule published July 1st granted the exemption to the mandate or citizens who live in states which do not expand Medicaid.
There is a lot of controversy about expanding Medicaid to cover people making less than 138% FPL in that the gov. could attach assets in the future. States do have that option and in fact they do enforce it when the middle class uses Medicaid to pay for assisted care and nursing home care which is nothing new and did not come about with the PPACA. Those wealthier than FPL must meet a certain income and asset standard before Medicaid will kick-in.
Factcheck.org reports on false claims by the Republican National Committee:
“Republican National Committee claims that 8.2 million Americans can’t find full-time jobs ‘partly due to ObamaCare.’”
Since the PPACA was implemented, the numbers of part time workers has been decreasing. The numeric quoted represents the total number of part time workers seeking full time work.
6 million retirees will also lose their:
“prescription drug coverage”
The quoted 6 million losing their prescription drug coverage are expected to go on Medicare Part D after losing Employer covered drug prescriptions. The tally by the RNC goes on for 55 more losses by citizens under the PPACA as accounted for in their RNC report: Obamacare by The Numbers
74% of Small Business will fire workers, cut hours under Obamacare.
Factcheck.org reports on how John Boehner misquoted a recent Chamber of Commerce release of a 3 page Small Business Outlook Study. Only 13% of small businesses said they would take such actions in the study.
Speaker John Boehner Tweet, July 17 CC Study: “74% of small businesses will fire workers, cut hours under #Obamacare” http://bit.ly/12GmjgF cc @dcexaminer @uschamber
Even though some companies will cut workers to less than 30 hours to avoid providing them with healthcare insurance, the companies will still have to pay in equivalents. The government calculates something it calls full time equivalent employees. It divides the number of hours that part time workers actually work in a month ]by 120 to see what it is in equivalent. In effect, for purposes of the regulation two part time employees will count as one full time employee in determining if the firm has over 50 employees and is subject to the penalty. So actually, firms will not be able to avoid the penalty by just cutting the hours its employee work to under 30.