A Doctor's Check-up on the 1-Year-Old Health Law

A year ago this week, Congress passed nearly 2,700 pages of health legislation virtually no one had read in their entirety. Despite opposition from members of their own party and the majority of Americans, congressional Democrats passed a bill fattened with sweetheart deals that further distorted one sixth of our economy.

Now, a year later, Americans are still reeling from the consequences of that congressional action. Despite a multi-million-dollar effort to boost the popularity of the law, including ads paid for by taxpayers, a majority of the American people still reject the law, and for good reason. A mountain of nonpartisan evidence shows the overhaul continues to wreak havoc on the pocketbooks and health of millions of Americans.

Consider the issue of consumer cost. Cost is the main access problem for most Americans, yet the controversial overhaul slams middle-class Americans with a $813 billion tax increase while directly increasing the cost of health coverage, drugs, and medical devices.

It is not only consumers who will suffer under the law. Under the overhaul, 18 million Americans will be forced onto Medicaid. One tally pegs the cost of Medicaid changes to states, many of which are struggling to balance their budgets, at around $118 billion. As a result, states will continue to spend a disproportionate share of their budget on Medicaid while governors cut other programs to pay for burdensome federal mandates.

http://visiontoamerica.org/story/a-doctors-check-up-on-the-1-year-old-health-law.html