Sunday, July 08, 2012

Gallup: Plurality Of Americans See Obamacare As More Harmful To Economy Than Good

By Susan Duclos

Gallup finds that 46 percent of Americans believe Obama and Democrats' health care law aka Obamacare does more harm to the economy than good, versus 37 percent that think it will help.


Implications

Proponents of the ACA argue that it has many benefits, including in particular decreasing the number of Americans who don't have health insurance. Opponents argue against it partly on philosophical grounds, decrying the ACA's reliance on government to control this personal aspect of Americans' lives. The practical impact of the law on the healthcare system and the economy will not be fully known until it has been place and medical providers and consumers react to the changes.

But with the economy continuing to top the list of Americans' perceived most important problems facing the country, the impact of the ACA on the national economy is a major consideration. The current data show that Americans are as divided on the question of the ACA's economic impact as they are on the bill itself, heavily along political lines. But Americans' overall tilt toward the view that the ACA will hurt the economy may be a liability for President Obama and the ACA's proponents.

The national economy is one issue and since the Supreme Court ruling legally defining Obamacare's individual mandate as a tax, Americans are also being made aware of the 20 taxes associated with Obamacare which 75 percent of directly hits families making less than $120,000 a year, totaling $501 billion, adding another issue which makes an unpopular law even more unpopular for Americans.

(See Comprehensive List Of Obamacare Tax Hikes With Effective Dates- HERE)

Recent news showed that Obama also requested another billion dollars so IRS could implement Obamacare:

The House will take up the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act sometime in July, and possibly next week when it returns from the July 4 recess. (The rule governing debate on the bill was already approved last week.) While the Obama administration requested another $1 billion so the IRS can implement the healthcare law, the bill, H.R. 6020, does not give any new money to the IRS.

Additionally, it "prohibits the IRS from receiving transfers from the Department of Health and Human Services to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," according to report language accompanying the bill from the House Appropriations Committee.

The report notes that in 2010, HHS allocated $20 million to the IRS for enforcing the healthcare law "without the Committee's knowledge." It also notes that the IRS received $168 million from HHS to implement the law in 2011, and plans to get another $322 million from HHS in 2012. 

"The Committee prohibits further such transfers during fiscal year 2013 in section 106 of this Act," the report states.

Related news today, from Associated Press, shows that IRS will need thousands and thousands of more workers to "police" healthcare, and one Governor has now taken to referring to the IRS as the "new Gestapo."