Obamacare costs more, not less

As Mitt Romney continues to say anything to get elected – now promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act – it's hard to believe that it was only six years ago that then-Governor Romney shared the President’s position that we should take on rising health care costs and provide affordable, accessible health care to all Americans. He even included the individual mandate as part of the health reform legislation he signed into law in Massachusetts, which served as the national model for the Affordable Care Act.
“Now, Romney apparently doesn’t believe any of these things. He wants to allow insurance companies to be able to drop your coverage at the very moment you need it most, to continue refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions, to be able to charge women up to 50 percent more than men for the same coverage, and to have no obligation to cover important preventive care like regular checkups, mammograms, colonoscopies or other cancer screenings. The analysis by the Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based health care research foundation, found that under Romney’s health care plan, the uninsured population would soar to 72 million by 2022 — 12 million higher than if nothing had been done at all. By contrast, if President Barack Obama’s health care law is fully implemented — including complete state participation in the now voluntary Medicaid expansion — the number of uninsured people would drop from 47.9 million in 2011 to about 27.1 million people in 2022, the report estimated.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/...

Here are the cons..
Increased coverage may actually raise health care costs. That's because many people will receive preventative care and testing who, fortunately, find out they didn't have that critical illness. However, the CBO found that additional testing, such as cancer screening and cholesteral tests, will lead to higher net medical spending. (Source: CBO,2009 Study on Preventative Health Care, August 7, 2009)
Those who don't purchase insurance, and don't qualify for Medicaid or subsidies, will be assessed a penalty of $95 (or 1% of income, whichever is higher) in 2014. It increases to $325 (or 2% of income) in 2015, and $695 (or 2.5% of income) in 2016.
About 4 million people, or 1.2% of the population, will wind up paying the penalty rather than purchase health insurance. The CBO estimates this will total $54 billion in penalties. (Source: Washington Post Factchecker, Tax Breaks vs Tax Hikes, July 6, 2012)
Taxes will be raised on one million individuals with annual incomes above a threshold of $200,000 and four million couples filing jointly with incomes in excess of $250,000. They would pay 2.35% (up from 1.45%) Medicare taxes on income above the threshold. In addition, they will pay a additional 3.8% Medicare taxes. This would apply to the lesser of income from dividends, capital gains, rent and royalties or income above the threshold. (Source: Smart Money, What Obamacare Means for Taxes, June 28, 2012)
Pharmaceutical companies will pay an extra $84.8 billion in fees over the next ten years to pay for closing the "donut hole" in Medicare Part D. This could raise drug costs if they pass this onto consumers.
In 2018, insurance companies will be assessed a 40% excise tax on "Cadillac" health plans. These are plans with annual premiums exceeding $10,200 for individuals or $27,500 for families. Many of these plans are for people in high-risk pools, such as older workers or union workers in high-risk jobs. (Source: Kaiser, Cadillac Tax Explained, March 18, 2010)
Medical-device manufacturers and importers will pay a 2.3% excise tax. Indoor tanning services already pay a 10% excise tax. This could discourage those businesses from hiring new employees.
Between 3-5 million people could lose their company-sponsored health care plans. Many businesses will find it more cost-effective to pay the penalty and let their employees purchase their own insurance plans on the exchanges. Other small businesses might find they can get a better plan through the state-run exchanges. (Source: CBO, The Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Employment-Based Health Insurance, March 15, 2012)
There are 30.1 million people who currently buy their own private health insurance. Many of them may need to get another plan if their insurance doesn't meet the minimum standards -- which haven't yet been established. (Source: Factcheck.org, The Keep Your Plan Promise, June 28, 2012)
In 2014,those under 65 can only deduct medical expenses if they exceed 10% of income.

In addition, the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation lists its analysis of the disadvantages of Obamacare. For more, see Heritage Foundation, Impact of Obamacare.
Is Obamacare Unconstitutional?
On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that the Federal government does not have the Constitutional right to mandate that people must buy health insurance from a private company. However, it does have the right to tax those that don't. Therefore, it upheld the Act.

The Court struck down the mandate that states must add people to Medicaid. However, many states will still take advantage of this portion of Obamacare because the Federal government will foot the bill for the first several years.





s
of Health Care Reform?.