On March 22, 2010, the House of Representatives passed the $940 billion health care bill, which President Barack Obama then signed later that week. According to the government, this bill will expand coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans.Despite what President Obama may say, opinion polls have shown that the American people do not want this bill. On March 21, a Rasmussen poll showed that 54% of people polled opposed it, while 41% favored it. Since the bill passed, 41 states have come forward to try to repeal the legislation.
Obama still insists that Americans want it. Recently, he has said that this new law has already helped millions of people. However, people are still skeptical. A recent Gallup poll showed that 61% of Americans still worry about the cost of a serious illness, and 48% worry about the normal health care costs. This legislation has not lessened the concerns of citizens.
Higher taxes will come out of this legislation. A Medicare Payroll Tax is being applied in 2012 to families who make more than $250,000 a year and individuals who make more than $200,000 a year. These people will have to pay a 3.8% tax on their wages and investment income.
For example, if a citizen makes $1 million in wages and another $100,000 in capital gains income, he or she would pay an additional $11,000 into Medicare than what they pay today. Taxing the rich will not work, because the rich people are the ones who own successful businesses. If they are paying more, then they are just going to increase the price of their products. As a result, average consumers end up paying more money from their pockets. Contrary to what the President thinks, taxing the rich is not an effective solution.
In addition, people will have to pay a certain amount if they refuse to buy insurance. The individual mandate says that starting in 2014, all people must purchase public healthcare or pay an annual $695 fine. Since when does America, the land of the free, force people to do something against their own will? This sounds like something that would happen in a dictatorship, not in the United States of America. However, because of this legislation, it will begin to happen.
Many people think this health care legislation is unconstitutional and violates the Commerce clause in the Constitution. Within the government, politicians have paired this clause with the “necessary and proper clause” to take a broader view of different issues, saying that reserved powers are allowed to be exercised. This bill violates that clause and the Constitution because it forces people to buy insurance or be penalized, even though it states nowhere in the Constitution that people are to be forced on an issue like that. It shows that people’s freedoms are slowly being taken away.
And it is starting with the implementation of a socialized health care system.