Obama's Affordable Care Act is bad medicine for America
State Sen. Pat Colbeck and the Michigan House should be congratulated on their bold refusal of the $9.8 million in federal funding to establish a Michigan Health Insurance Exchange. They did their homework and realized that this funding comes with mandates from Washington that prevents Michigan from creating an exchange in our image.
According to the " Affordable Care Act " (ACA) or "Obamacare," any Michigan exchange must be approved by the Health and Human Services secretary and it cannot materially differ nor conflict with regulations created by the secretary. Refusing this funding is a great starting point to the many challenges that this law will rightly face this year.
Michiganders and all Americans need to ignore the special interest noise and polarizing din about the ACA. Like the leaders mentioned above, we need to do our homework and become educated about this legislation and what it really means to each and every American. As you will see, the ACA may not be the best medicine for our tenuous economy or our health.The 2,801 pages of the two bills that are the “Affordable Care Act” (ACA) is like an onion with many layers. When you start peeling back the skin it begins to stink and as you get to the core you are left crying. Some of the early provisions are good policy and should be part of any health care reform; maintaining coverage for higher-risk individuals with pre-existing conditions, allowing for dependent coverage until age 26, and prescription drug assistance. These make sense.
However, if you look further into this legislation you will see why it is a stinker: it calls for 132,000 pages of regulations, creates 159 new agencies, boards, and commissions and it calls for each state to create their own health insurance exchange4. This growth in government infrastructure sounds expensive and it is. Early estimates are that this will cost Americans $1 trillion in new spending over the first 10 years. That estimate assumes that only 19 million of the 111 million eligible Americans sign up for the government-sponsored health insurance plans. Many estimate that this number will more than likely double because the legislation encourages employers to move their employees into these plans3. You read right; instead of paying anywhere from $8,000-15,000 for their employee’s private health care coverage, businesses can pay a token fine of $2,000 and have the government provide a health care plan for their employee. By this mechanism, a significant portion of our U.S. workforce will now be placed into Medicaid, a program originally intended for the poor and disabled. Unfortunately, because Medicaid is co-managed by each state and part of every state’s budget, this added Medicaid burden will greatly impact every state’s bottom line. This is why 26 states (including Michigan) are rightly challenging this legislation in the Supreme Court.
Ann Arbor Michigan Health Insurance - News
John ArensmeyerIn this down economy, Ann Arbor small business owner Mark Hodesh considers himself pretty lucky. Not only was 2010 a record year for his Downtown Home & Garden store, but he was able to State Sen. Pat Colbeck and the Michigan House
A measure pending in the Senate would tie into federal health reforms that call on states to set up health insurance exchanges for individuals and small businesses to buy health coverage. The Michigan measure would prohibit a health plan offered
Sister Carol Keehan, who had supported Obama's health care plan as president of the influential Catholic Health Association, said she was "disappointed" by the ruling from the Department of Health and Human Services. But after Obama tweaked the plan
health care option for its 45 full-time employees to comply with the Michigan Publicly Funded Health Insurance Contribution Act known as Act 152. This means the city will A successful $32000 regional agreement between Chelsea and Ann Arbor,
by Padmananda Rama President Obama greets students after speaking at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Jan 27. Young Republicans say they see an opportunity in 2012 to dent Obama's popularity among the youngest voters.
Domestic partner benefits: New poll shows ... - AnnArbor.com
The poll found 54 percent of likely voters opposed such benefits, while 32 percent supported them.
The poll was conducted Jan. 19-21 by Denno Research and the public relations firm Lambert, Edwards and Associates.
Gov. Rick Snyder last month signed a new law banning local governments and public schools from offering health insurance and other benefits for unmarried partners of employees, same sex or not.
It's not clear whether the ban applies to employees of public universities . The governor's office and officials from the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University say it does not. However, some Michigan lawmakers say it does.
The ACLU of Michigan has filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to strike down the ban. Two Ann Arbor couples are at the forefront of that lawsuit.
Read the Detroit Free Press article .