By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Thursday, President Obama held a pep rally to try to prop up flagging polls showing that the signature legislation of his presidency, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (i.e. Obamacare). President Obama called on Congress to stop trying to repeal the 2010 legislation.
Alabama Congressman Mike Rogers (R) from Saks reaffirmed his opposition to Obamacare on the same day in an email to his east Alabama constituents. Representative Rogers wrote,
“As most folks across East Alabama may have seen recently on the news, the Obama Administration announced it will delay the implementation of the Employer Mandate provisions of Obamacare by a year. The current law requires companies with more than 50 employees to offer insurance to those who work 30 or more hours a week or pay a penalty. I believe this provision, which was supposed to begin in 2014, will further hurt small businesses and is already having an effect on our economy.”
Congressman Rogers said, “The Obama Administration is in panic mode trying to implement this unworkable law. Postponing the Employer Mandate is the latest in a series of delays and setbacks.”
Rep. Rogers said that after the president’s announcement, the House voted to support the President’s delay and also voted to also delay the Individual Mandate.
The Penalty for a person defying the government and not being covered by health insurance the first year is expected to be $95 per adult and $47.50 per child or 1% of household income: whichever is greater. For high income people, that 1% in additional income tax would make the cost of self insuring ridiculously expensive. The job of extorting the money from millions of Americans has been assigned to the IRS.
Millions of other Americans are expected to remain uninsured and pay the penalty. If something does happen to them however they won’t have any insurance to cover unexpected medical costs. Most insurance industry insiders believe that smaller companies will cut out employee insurance rather than purchase the much more expensive Obamacare compliant policies and companies will restrict hours on many employees to cut down the ranks of full time employees. That combined with higher prices could actually increase the number of uninsured persons since the penalty for not having insurance will be far cheaper than the cost of purchasing an Obamacare compliant policy.
Rep. Rogers said, “There are at least two approaches to undoing Obamacare: repeal it or delay key parts so that the entire law becomes unworkable. While repealing it is my preferred choice – and I have voted repeatedly to repeal Obamacare – defunding and delaying it are also viable options. Congress should do both.”
Rep. Roger wrote, “After the announcement of the most recent delay, I wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to encourage him to bring a vote of full repeal to the Senate floor. The letter states, “Without action from the United States Senate to permanently repeal this unworkable law, our constituents will continue to face the uncertainty and very possible negative effects of the Affordable Care Act.”
Unfortunately, the Democratic-led Senate refuses to act. Because of their inaction, Americans are stuck with uncertainty from the Administration. It’s time the Senate put hard-working families first.
Obamacare is a train wreck, and America deserves better. By repealing Obamacare, Congress can debate legislation that will help bring down the cost of health care while improving its quality.”
The conservative Alabama Congressman vowed, “I will continue to fight against this poorly crafted, broken law.”
Americans may begin signing up for the new healthcare insurance policies on October 1.
