OBAMACARE DEBACLE - Update 2/6/2014

[bsteadman]

Anti-Obamacare proves winning strategy in Nebraska GOP race

The Washington Times
Stephen Dinan
2/6/2014

Excerpt:

Want to know the power of opposing Obamacare? Look at the Nebraska Senate race, where Ben Sasse, a political newcomer, has come from out of nowhere to land in a virtual tie in the polls with former state Treasurer Shane Osborne.

Mr. Osborne has 30 percent of the potential vote to Mr. Sasse’s 29 percent, with the next closest candidate at 13 percent, in a new Harper Polling survey of potential GOP primary voters, sponsored by Conservative Intel. More than 23 percent of voters didn’t have a pick in the race.

Polls last year showed Mr. Osborne with a commanding lead. Both he and Mr. Sasse vow to be vociferous opponents of the new health care law, but Mr. Sasse’s campaign said his surge is a result of relentless fighting back against the law.

“Here’s why we have momentum: Nebraskans know Ben is the anti-ObamaCare candidate. Ben will fight ObamaCare, and the worldview that goes along with it,” Sasse campaign manager Tyler Grassmeyer said in a statement touting the poll.
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View the complete article at:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...y-nebraska-go/

[bsteadman]

Man’s personal info stolen after using Obamacare website

Capitol City Project
Joe Schoffstall
2/5/2014

Excerpt:

A Virginia man’s personal information has been stolen after he signed up for Obamacare on the healthcare.gov website. Now, he’s questioning if the website is the reason why.

“There’s a possibility someone got my personal information from your website,” Virginia Beach resident Rich Guillory said in a video shot by WVEC-VA while speaking on the phone. “They knew my name and they had my number” — along with his address and social security number as well.

The day after he signed up on the website, he got a call from someone claiming they could help him with finding health insurance. When the call came in, he didn’t have time to talk.

However, they continued from two different Virginia Beach numbers. Guillory said he received about seven or eight calls before calling the number back. When he placed the call, a lady answered the phone and said she didn’t know what he was talking about. He then called the second number. The lady who picked up said this was about the fourth call she received like it.
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View the complete article, including video, at:

http://capitolcityproject.com/mans-p...acare-website/

[bsteadman1]

Watch Out for Obamacare's Subsidy Cliff: Earn $1 More in Wages, and You Could Pay $20,000 More for Insurance

The Weekly Standard
John McCormack
2/5/2014

Excerpt:

On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office released a new study finding that the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, will cause "a decline in the number of full-time-equivalent workers of about 2.0 million in 2017, rising to about 2.5 million in 2024."

That doesn't mean that Obamacare will cause 2.5 million employees to be laid off, but rather that the law will encourage the equivalent of 2.5 million full-time workers to drop out of the workforce. Here's how it will work (or rather, discourage work): Obamacare offers Medicaid to people earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line in states that opted into the program, and it provides subsidies to people earning above that amount, up to 400 percent of the federal poverty line. As your income increases, the subsidy decreases.

CBO explains that "the phaseout effectively raises people’s marginal tax rates (the tax rates applying to their last dollar of income), thus discouraging work."

For some people, CBO notes, the incentive to reduce their hours or quit their jobs will be especially strong: "People whose income exceeds 400 percent of the FPL are ineligible for premium subsidies, and for some people those subsidies will drop abruptly to zero when income crosses that threshold."

The Obamacare subsidy cliff is so steep that if you earn just $1 above the threshold, you could end up paying anywhere from a few thousand dollars to $20,000 more for insurance, depending on your age.
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View the complete article at:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...ce_778743.html