It’s Not Just the Mandate: ObamaCare’s Other Infringements
http://pjmedia.com/blog/its-not-just-the-mandate-obamacares-other-infringements/
ObamaCare supporters were hit with more bad news recently when the Congressional Budget Office announced that the health care law would cost nearly twice the original estimates [1]: $1.76 trillion over ten years rather than $940 billion. Of course, such “unexpected” cost overruns are nothing new for government programs. When Medicare was passed in 1965, it was predicted to cost $12 billion by 1990. In reality, it cost a whopping $110 billion, almost 10 times more than predicted [2].
But the escalating economic costs of ObamaCare will pale in comparison to the escalating losses of freedom.
The infringement of personal freedom receiving the most attention lately has been the “individual mandate” requiring Americans to purchase health insurance. This issue is at the heart of the current legal challenge before the U.S. Supreme Court. But ObamaCare imposes numerous other mandates and controls, including the following:
* Doctors must purchase and use expensive electronic medical record systems [3].
* Doctors must electronically record certain patient data [4] such as ethnicity, BMI (body mass index), blood pressure, and smoking status — and turn over patient data to the government [5] upon request.
* Doctors treating Medicare patients must practice according to government “quality” guidelines [6] or face economic penalties.
* Insurance companies must offer numerous “free” benefits [7], including various preventive health services, birth control, and coverage of “children” up to age 26.
* Insurers may not raise their rates to cover these new expenses unless the government agrees those rate increases are “reasonable.” [8]
* An Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) of unelected bureaucrats will set prices for Medicare services that will lead to de facto rationing [9].