WHAT CURRENT HEALTHCARE REFORM MEANS TO THE WORKING POOR

Still think healthcare reform was a good idea for the working poor?  Let's go over a few of the highlights:

1.  Starting this month, Americans can no longer use pre-tax health savings accounts to purchase over the counter medications.  Also, withdrawals from HSA's and FSA's will now be taxed at 20%, twice the original 10% amount.

2.  Starting in 2013, Americans will no longer be able to deduct prescription drug coverage as part of Medicare part D.

3.  The biggest tax hikes for healthcare reform go into effect in 2014, starting with employers.  If they employ at least 50 people, they will be mandated by law to provide insurance coverage or be fined $2,000 per employee.  Should they make the employees wait, they will be fined an additional $400 per employee.  This cost could be catastrophic to some small employers.  If they go out of business, who covers the unemployed?

4.  The  absolute worst part of this reform for the working poor is the mandate that requires the employee to purchase this coverage.  If you choose not to, you will be hit with a penalty of your own, to the tune of 1% of your income in 2014.  If you do not have coverage by 2016, the penalty is increased to 2.5% of your income. 

Does any of this sound good to you?  If it does, I can only surmise that you are not a small business owner and you are not part of the working poor.  I personally know people who could not squeeze another $10 a month out of their current budgets to purchase insurance, so how can anyone with half a brain think these people can afford to give up 1 to 2.5% of their income?  The people I'm talking about are not lazy, they work all the hours they can get, rarely miss work and use their hard earned income to pay for food, housing and transportation, not drugs or alcohol.  So why should they be beaten down by a government that is claiming to do them a favor in the guise of providing health care coverage?  For that matter, if the Democratics, who were so proud of themselves for passing this "coverage",  are going to force the poor to pay for it, they aren't "providing" anything.  Their only real accomplishment, as far as I can see, is that they've managed to put a spin on raising taxes for the poorest of the poor, while creating an atmosphere in the small business community that makes it even harder to do business and provide jobs for many of these same people. 

The real beneficiary here is the federal government.  Under the guise of health care reform and helping the poor, they've manage to pass one of the most outlandish tax hikes in history.