Obamacare is a financial disaster and ticking time bomb for states like Illinois.
The reason is simple.
Illinois didn’t get a Cornhusker Kickback, like Nebraska, written into Obamacare.
Called the Affordable Health Care Act, the name of the legislation is an oxymoron because it’s unaffordable.
An enormous part of the cost of Obamacare was thrown onto the states.
Anyone thinking a gigantic new entitlement is going to be free that covers an additional 30 million people likely thinks Democrats obey the Illinois State Constitution when it requires balanced budgets.
Or that Blago is innocent and wrongly convicted.
The explosion of higher Illinois costs occurs in 2014 when millions more people get free medical coverage. It happens when the eligibility for Medicaid increases by raising the income level for “free” by 33%.
It’s expected to increase Medicaid enrollment by as much as 25%.
In 2008, Illinois spent $13.9 billion on Medicaid of which the Feds paid for $6.6 billion. That means state governments paid $7.3 billion. An increase of 25 percent is about $2 billion, if you express it in 2011 costs.
About a third of the Democrats’ 67% income tax increase will be consumed by the future costs of Obamacare.
Aren’t you glad Melissa Bean voted for Obamacare and all of the newspapers endorsed her?
Fortunately voters were smarter than newspaper editors and elected Joe Walsh.
What Governor Quinn isn’t saying is how much money is being spent on setting up an Illinois Obamacare bureaucracy and if Illinois has stopped spending doing this, now that two Federal judges have ruled the entire law is unconstitutional. (No, Quinn is hoping that the two Federal judges that gave it an OK prevail.)
Adding $2 billion of Obamacare costs onto an Illinois that’s broke is what happens when a Chicago Democrat becomes President.
I guess in 2012 our teleprompter-in-chief can run for re-election in the suburbs on spending a third of our income tax increase on $2 billion of higher Medicaid costs for Illinois.
Dick Durbin
Coincidentally Dick Durbin will be up for re-election in 2014, the year the higher Medicaid costs for Obamacare kicks in.
More free benefits without Illinois having the money to pay for them.
This is Durbin’s path to re-election.
Let the Madigan family figure out how to raise more taxes to pay for it.
Obamacare is an unfunded federal mandate to Illinois. It explains why Dick Durbin was such a cheerleader.
Apparently, it’s better that the poor people die from lack of health access/insurance than a rich person be asked to pay more in taxes. Nice values, Republican!
When state government forces local governments to spend more money, it’s called “an unfunded mandate.”
Once again the republican forces come out with percentages ment to scare the bejesus out of us.
Before you start with the 33% increase answer this, 33% increase from what. Was the level in the first place?
$21,000.00 going to $28,000.00 or maybe $28,000.00 going to $35,000.00.
You make it sound like everyone is going to get free health care.
And thats not whats happening.
What about those with pre-existing conditions who can’t get health care even if they want to pay for it? or those who are about to run out of the life health care benefit money? are they no longer worth treating?
I know for a fact that my son has health care because of the health care plan that raised the dependent age to 26.
He looks for a job every day but because of what bush did to cause or financial downfall he can’t find a job; even with a college degree.
Thank God Melissa Bean voted for this bill.
And shame on the republicans for using their scare tacts, to keep something that will benefit so many, from being understood.
Didn’t we learn to stop believing the republican’s scare tacts when there wasn’t any WMD’s found in Iraq?
I do understand there are things in this bill that need fixing but to scrap it have nothing is ridiculous!
Really folks,
I love it when the Democrats blame the Republicans, and the Republicans blame the Democrats. Why continue to play the blame game?
Right or wrong, we are going downhill very, very quickly. Why not accept that both parties have pushed bad legislation and move on to fixing this mess we are all in.
Go ahead and blame the other guy, but really, there should not be a “free ride” for anyone.
McKenna: It’s ridiculous that Democrats refused to reform health care and allow competition from other insurance companies in other states.
What other huge industry the government doesn’t allow interstate competition in?
They also blocked junk law suits against doctors. Doctors run all kinds of unnecessary tests now because of abuses by trial lawyers.
Obamacare is unaffordable and Democrats know it will cause more big government and much higher taxes on everyone.
There is so much fraud in medicare, in Illinois, starting with people receiving it who shouldn’t be. Of course in Illinois, Democrats don’t do anything about it because they want the anchor baby votes in the future.
Point fingers all you want. The bottom line is we need to change the way we live so our society isn’t so dependant on healthcare.
As a self employed 26 year old with pre existing medical conditions, I realized healthcare isn’t really an option for me.
Getting healthy is. If we take care of our bodies the way humans were meant to be taken care of (raw, organic nutrition) our bodies will take care of us.
You can vote whichever way you want but the bottom line is if we dont take care of ourselves, it doesn’t really matter anyways.