Cook+County

” The big win, from my perspective, is health care.”
-Rep. Phil Hare, August 17, on his major accomplishments in Congress this year.

Thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act………………..

Our national deficit will continue to grow. Just a month after the bill passed the Congressional Budget Office announced it would actually cost $115 billion more than previously thought, bringing the total cost to more than $1 trillion.

Higher taxes will be imposed on small businesses. While politicians like Rep. Hare claim to be fighting for small business, the real business owners, like those represented by the non-partisan National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), were not so easily fooled. “The fundamental mission of our organization is to promote and protect the rights of small businesses and the self-employed to own, operate and grow their business and this health care law directly undermines this core value,” wrote the NFIB president in a statement following the vote. The NFIB joined the 20 other states in the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the bill.

More people will lose jobs. In a study published several months before the vote, the non-partisan Illinois Policy Institute predicted the bill would cost Illinois 169,000 jobs. Newly added provisions in the bill are expected to significantly increase this number. Major employers in the17th district like Caterpillar and John Deere will see their costs rise by $100 million and $150 million respectively, in the first year alone. Why would any company hire workers when their costs are increasing by hundreds of millions of dollars? They won’t.

Our quality of care will decrease. Rep. Hare assured the 8 in 10 Americans happy with their health care they would be able to keep their current plans. However, according to the Associated Press, the Obama Administration itself, “estimates that many employers will be forced to make changes to their health plans under the new law. In just three years, a majority of workers-51 percent-will be in plans subject to new federal requirements.” In addition, the Obama Administration has acknowledged that “health insurance plans that are now offered by small businesses probably will not survive the transition to a regulated marketplace.”

Our cost of care will increase. Obamacare imposes billions of dollars in annual fees and taxes on drug manufacturers, prescription drug importers, and health insurance plans. Moreover, the bill establishes new taxes on certain retail sales by manufacturers and importers of medical devices. According to The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) these fees and taxes, “would generally be passed through to health consumers in the form of higher drug and device prices and higher insurance premiums.

Seniors will see major cuts in Medicare. The most drastic cuts ($132 billion), will be made to the popular Medicare Advantage program. Additionally, Medicare payments for home health care will be reduced by $40 billion and payments to certain hospitals will be cut by $22 billion.

www.bobby2010.com