Hellzapoppin!

Earlier this week I sent off my check in order to settle my obligation to the IRS for this quarter at least. Coincidentally, but very appropriately, this week also marks the start of the monsoon season in Arizona and as my unwilling fingers said goodbye to the envelope, I mused on the possibility that whatever I’d just paid, it seemed unlikely that it would be enough come next April. In other words, and this is where the monsoon connection comes in, this is almost certain to be the calm just before the storm.

Little did I know at the time that the clouds of fiscal ruin were just beyond the horizon and would be with us, in all their ominous fury, within the week.

This blog, like many other analyses have long-predicted the financial disaster that would result from the “Kennedy Healthcare Plan”. It may turn out to be a sad but entirely fitting legacy that the name of the senior Senator from Massachusetts should be linked with this “horse’s ass” of legislative gobbledygook. On the other hand, he might prefer that as a legacy rather than the alternative which would almost certainly be the death in highly dubious circumstances of one Mary Jo Kopechne.

The proposed legislation is so bad that Obama is even beginning to distance himself from it and his aides are already protesting that, “It’s not the President’s bill”. Well, let’s face it, technically that’s a true statement but it’s yet another example of a lawyer parsing his words because the way it works is that Congress comes up with all and every piece of legislation and the President signs it into law. But that verbal tap dance does not alter the fact that Obama campaigned on it and, as far back as 2003, said that he wanted a single-payer system. Patently this is not it and it may well be that this is a way to edge towards that goal because the liberal Left know that the majority of American voters want no part of it.

If a camel is a horse designed by a committee then this legislation is a whole herd of ‘em. Or is it a gaggle or a flock or better yet, a hump?

To start with, initially the Congressional Budget Office said this entire thing was going to cost $600 billion. Surprisingly, Charlie Rangel upped the tab to more than $1 trillion. So upset was the majority in the House and Senate with the whole thing that they opted to ignore the CBO and use “White House estimates” instead. That alone should be enough to have you running screaming for the aisles but we haven’t even scratched the surface yet so let’s step gingerly into these muddy and roiling waters and see what horror awaits as yet dormant in the silt.

Even with the $1 trillion number that will still leave 37 million people uninsured. Huh? Here’s why. The plan figures to move those between 150% and 500% of the federal poverty level to “assisted coverage”. That means that for those with an annual income between $33,000 and $150,000 they will receive a federal subsidy. How much will depend on family size. But what about those making less than $33,000? As it stands right now, they will be shunted into Medicaid which is hardly what was promised.

And how will all this be paid for? The quick answer is taxes and penalties. Let’s say you get healthcare insurance via your employer. That has a monetary value of; say $7500, which until now was untaxed but not any more.

It goes without saying that your employer would love to shed that burden on their bottom line and will certainly do everything possible to “cajole” you to go over to the “public option”. Do you think for a moment that you’ll get another $7500 in your paycheck? Get real. I know it, you know it and the Feds know it. Ergo, you’ll be forced into the government scheme which is what they wanted all along and making an utter mockery of Obama’s protestation that, “If you’re happy with your current insurance you can keep it.”

Then the other revenue source will be penalties on those who do not obtain coverage.

If the devil is, as they say, in the details then widespread Satanism rules in Washington D.C.