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The Republicans are determined to make the mandate provision of the Affordable Health Care Act an evil tax that the way they phrase it is a huge tax on all Americans.
This, of course, is a lie which Mitt Romney is a master at making a lie sound reasonable.
The truth is that, yes, it is a tax, but only on those Americans who do not wish to get health insurance even though they are considered poor and will get a subsidy by the federal government to help pay for health insurance. In fact, the amount of people we are talking about would be less than 5 percent of the U.S. population and actually less in that most people after doing the math would see it benefits them to get insurance.
The bigger issue is what do you get for your money? There are many issues that are beneficial but the following are especially important:
- Insurance companies cannot turn you down at any age for a pre-existing condition.
- Any child can remain on his or her parents’ insurance until age 26.
- Small businesses with under 50 employees can get tax credits up to 35 percent of the cost of an employee’s insurance now and that goes up to 50 percent in 2014.
- Insurancers cannot impose caps on the costs of treatment
- One can get preventive services including mammograms, colonoscopies, immunizations, prenatal and newborn care, contraceptives, annual wellness exams, blood sugar tests and cognitive abilities checked regularly, choice of primary care physicians, all without out-of-pocket charge, in other words, free.
- No donut hole costs for seniors.
- Making insurance even more affordable in 2014.
- 30 million will get health care with this law. Each year more than 26,000 people die who don’t have health care.
You don’t have to take my word. Go on, Google and type in what is in the Affordable Care Act.
Frank Ashton
Madison
