Obamacare admits incomes of consumers won't be verified - Massive waste of handouts to follow

Thursday, July 11, 2013 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: Obamacare, income verification, government waste

(NaturalNews) When President Obama was flying around the country stumping for his signature health care "reform" law in 2009-10, he said the plan would only cost about $900 billion over the course of a decade and would be "fully paid for."

In May, however, the Congressional Budget Office - in examining the true effects of the law as it prepares to fully kick in on Jan. 1 - set Obamacare's real costs at double what the president said it would cost ($1.8 trillion) over the next decade.

As bad as that is, the law's actual costs are likely to be higher still, thanks to regulatory loopholes that will explode the Treasury.

Trust - without verification

As CNSNews.com reports:

In a [July 5] "document dump," the Health and Human Services Department announced it will not require the new state health insurance exchanges to verify consumers' incomes to see if they qualify for health insurance subsidies.

Nor will HHS require the state exchanges to verify whether consumers can get affordable insurance through their employers.

In other words, so much for the income parameters limiting which Americans qualify for the cheaper health insurance exchanges called for by the law. What's worse, the government isn't concerned about verifying income data, The Washington Post reported; stronger verification procedures won't be in place until at least 2015 (if then).

Under the rules, individuals making around $45,000 a year, and families of four making around $94,000, will be eligible for government (read taxpayer) subsidies on a sliding scale, so they can purchase insurance via exchanges.

"We believe it is an ideal approach to provide flexibility in the case of many verifications," HHS said on page 345 of its 606-page final rule.

Per the Post:

After encountering "legislative and operational barriers," the federal government will not require the District and the 16 states that are running their own marketplaces to verify a consumer's statement that they do not receive health insurance from their employer.

"The exchange may accept the applicant's attestation regarding enrollment in eligible employer-sponsored plan...without further verification," according to the final rule.

The federal government will, however, conduct an audit for the states where it is managing the new insurance Web portal.

It's no secret that the government has been working overtime to sign up as many Americans as possible into the new government-managed exchanges - especially young Americans, because they are generally more healthy, require less health care and whose premiums will be required to pay for the care of older, less healthy adults. But there is more to getting as many of us signed up as possible; it's a matter of control as well. The more Americans under the thumb of the government health exchange, the more control Washington can exert.

State exchanges simply 'vendors' for HHS

"All told, the federal government will run 26 of the state health exchanges. It also will partner with seven states, where state and federal officials take joint responsibility for the marketplace. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia will take on the task themselves," the Post reported Feb. 18.

Americans should not be fooled by the so-called state-run exchanges, either. They, too, will be controlled by Uncle Sam because they must comply with federal rules established under the Obamacare law.

"Many states understand that setting up an ObamaCare exchange puts them in a risky position," The Hill reported in March. "Under the exchange regulations, states do not gain any meaningful flexibility or advantage by operating their own exchange, as opposed to leaving the exchange up to the federal government. States simply become the vendors of HHS for taxpayer-subsidized, government-controlled health plans."

And Thomas M. Christina, former associate deputy attorney general under President Reagan, said the state-run exchanges undermine free-market principles and competition, will lead to the destruction of private plans, and is de facto nationalization of the healthcare system.

Sources:

http://cnsnews.com

http://washingtonexaminer.com

http://thehill.com

http://www.whitehouse.gov

http://www.cbo.gov