Which part of Obamacare do bumper sticker supporters love most?

After the passage of Obama’s War on Health three years ago – otherwise known, laughably, as the “Affordable Care Act” – cute little “I [heart] Obamacare” bumper stickers have floated around communities throughout the United States as a way for people to pledge their support for rising costs of healthcare. But inquiring minds want to know…which part of Obamacare do they love the most?

Do they love the fact that this law is forcing employers to cut the hours of unskilled workers so they fall below the threshold of “full time”, or cutting back on hiring because of the increasing costs of healthcare? Part-time workers have increased by almost 20% in the last three years alone. Coincidence?

Or maybe they love the planned layoffs that the costs associated with these new healthcare regulations are prompting many smaller businesses to consider as they cope with the known – and unknown – burdens of Obamacare?

They may love the fact that the younger and healthier population will be raked over the coals as Obamacare gets fully implemented, losing access to their low cost plans of today in favor of more expensive policies of tomorrow – as reported by the Huffington Post (yes, THAT Huffington Post).

Perhaps they love the wholesale increase in premiums and fees that are associated with Obamacare, like the premium tax now paid by insurers (and passed on to their customers, of course)? Some estimates put the increase in premiums at a whopping 169% and, according to Forbes Magazine, an average of $3,065 per person.

But maybe that’s not it. I bet they love the fact that Obamacare will add another $6.2 trillion to our nation’s deficits over the coming decades, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Closely related, maybe it warms their hearts to know that the true cost of Obamacare is a whopping $233 billion MORE than the government advertised when the legislation was signed into law?

It is possible that lovers of Obamacare enjoy bureaucracy. According to the Associated Press, applying for coverage and benefits under Obamacare is as complex as doing your taxes and requires a 21-page form to be filled out and submitted.

Another possibility is those who support Obamacare find hope in a recent survey that found 60% of U.S. doctors, due to Obamacare, are far less optimistic about the future of medicine and healthcare in the United States.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “The congressional Democrats who crafted the legislation ignored virtually every actuarial principle governing rational insurance pricing”. Do bumper sticker supporters of Obamacare love that part, too?

Now that is true love.

Millions commit fraud to receive taxpayer-funded “Obama phone”

Posted by Steve Adcock

Just months after the federal government spent $2.2 billion in 2012 to fund a cellular phone subsidy program aimed at giving low-income Americans taxpayer-funded telephone services, tightened FCC rules have revealed that a whopping 41% of those who received “free” phone service could not substantiate eligibility for the program.

The “Lifeline Program” began in 1984 as a way to keep low-income people connected to family and emergency services. The program was intended for those who meet federal poverty standards or currently receive food stamps, Medicaid or other taxpayer-funded handouts.

Until last year, telephone carriers were not required to verify the eligibility of those who applied for the phone subsidy. It is only now, after the FCC tightened their rules and require eligibility verification, that the massive fraud – accounting for nearly half of those subscribed to the handout program – has been revealed to tax paying Americans.

The FCC now requires telephone carriers to verify eligibility and may impose fines of $150,000 per customer, per day for fraudulent use of the Lifeline program. The FCC claims the new safeguards will save taxpayers $2 billion over the course of three years.

Taxpayers forced to pay over $500 million for abortions

Posted by Steve Adcock

According to a report published by the Susan B. Anthony foundation, public records show that the Planned Parenthood organization performed a record 333,964 abortions in 2011 and received a whopping $542 million in taxpayer funding, which includes grants and Medicaid reimbursements.

Women should be allowed to run their lives as they see fit, but taxpayers should not be forced to fund the act of killing unborn babies. Over a three year period, Planned Parenthood has performed almost a million abortions, largely financed by the American taxpayer. Although Planned Parenthood claims to offer a wide range of pregnancy “services”, abortions account for 92% of its daily operations, the report cited.

Worse, Planned Parenthood has reported almost $90 million in excess revenue and over a billion in net assets. The abortion business sure is lucrative.

Why, then, are Americans forced to pay for abortions? Regardless of profit or loss, funneling tax dollars to abortion clinics amounts to an abomination of freedom and an entirely unjustified use of tax revenue. Raise your hand if you believe our brave patriots of yesteryear fought for independence 237 years ago so our government can spend hundreds of millions of dollars funding abortions.

My hand is not raised.

Regardless of the fiscal cliff, U.S. taxpayers will face higher taxes

Posted by Michael Tanner

It has largely gone unnoticed amidst the hullabaloo surrounding the fiscal cliff, but regardless of what happens with the cliff negotiations, taxes are going up next year. The president may be calling for $1.6 trillion in tax hikes by 2022 in exchange for not driving the country over the cliff, but that does not count Obamacare, which will impose an additional $1 trillion in new or increased taxes over the next ten years, a big portion of which take effect in 2013.

For example, we’ve heard a great deal about President Obama’s demand that taxes go up for individuals earning $200,000 per year or families making more than $250,000. But under Obamacare, those families will already be hit with a 0.9 percent hike in the Medicare payroll tax on earnings over these thresholds starting January 1. Roughly 3 million Americans will end up paying more as a result of this hike, which is projected to raise $86 billion. And while $250,000 per year may seem like a great deal of money to most people, many of those earners are far from rich. Indeed, in New York City, for example, a teacher married to a police officer could fall into that bracket.

In addition, those families will now also have their interest, dividend, and capital-gains income subject to the 3.8 percent Medicare tax, a $123 billion hit to the economy. At a time when the economy desperately needs more risk-taking and investment, we are about to make it harder for entrepreneurs to put their capital to work. And this tax will also fall heavily on many small businesses.

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