A round of applause for anyone who guessed that President Obama would deal with a rising tide of public outrage over his phony “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan” promise by throwing other people’s money at the problem! The Hill reports that a lot more people may suddenly become eligible for tax credits to pay for their shiny new overpriced, under-performing ObamaCare coverage:
Right now, the tax credits are only available to people making 133 to 400 percent of the federal poverty line.
But the administrative fix under discussion would widen the eligibility for people with incomes above the 400 percent level.
Widening that eligibility for people with incomes above 400 percent of the poverty line would raise the Affordable Care Act’s overall cost, a major issue for Republican lawmakers.
The proposal would apparently assist people with canceled health insurance find alternatives on the new exchanges without the threat of a major price hike.
“I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me,” Obama said of the poor saps who believed his dozens of lies over the years, voted for him, and suddenly find themselves without health insurance. To make it up to them, he’ll compel other taxpayers to furnish them with a generous subsidy. It’ll probably be done with freshly-printed deficit money. Soon afterward, Obama will put on his ridiculous “deficit hawk” costume and begin shrieking for tax hikes to control the deficit as it surges back toward a trillion dollars a year… meaning quite a few of the people with incomes far above the poverty line will end up paying higher taxes to fund the subsidies they were given to quench their anger at Obama for breaking his promises.
Socialism is magical, isn’t it? It’s just a wonder hucksters like Obama can still find suckers to vote for them after a century of this crap.
Speaking of those sourpuss Republican lawmakers who are going to make a major issue of ObamaCare’s exploding costs, remember that’s another outrageous lie Obama and his henchmen told over and over again. Why, ObamaCare is going to reduce the deficit! And if you repeal it, why goodness gracious, saints alive, bless my stars and garters, the deficit will go up!
But of course, all of its cost projections were absurd fantasies, designed to play games with the ten-year Congressional Budget Office forecast window. It’s going to cost a mint, especially if the tax subsidies to pay those sky-high premiums are increased. And just wait until the death spiral of older, sicker, more expensive enrollees brings the insurance companies to Washington in search of their bailouts!
If the ObamaCare con artists had been honest about its costs and outcomes, it never would have gotten through Congress, and there probably never would have been a President Barack Obama to push it.
Update: Philip Klein at the Washington Examiner cites CBO estimates that say raising the subsidy caps from 400 percent above poverty level to 500 percent – the kind of “fix” Obama is apparently mulling over – would triple the cost of the subsidies over the next five years, from $458 billion to $1.2 trillion. Taxpayers will be beaten like pinatas until they rain enough cash for Obama to soothe those hurt feelings from victims of his “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan” swindle.
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