Officials have already drafted 13,000 pages of rules & regs for health care law
FOX News
With the Supreme Court giving President Obama’s new health care law a green light, federal and state officials are turning to implementation of the law — a lengthy and massive undertaking still in its early stages, but already costing money and expanding the government.
The Health and Human Services Department “was given a billion dollars implementation money,” Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg of Montana said. “That money is gone already on additional bureaucrats and IT programs, computerization for the implementation.”
“Oh boy,” Stan Dorn of the Urban Institute said. “HHS has a huge amount of work to do and the states do, too. There will be new health insurance marketplaces in every state in the country, places you can go online, compare health plans.”
The IRS, Health and Human Services and many other agencies will now write thousands of pages of regulations — an effort well under way:
“There’s already 13,000 pages of regulations, and they’re not even done yet,” Rehberg said.
“It’s a delegation of extensive authority from Congress to the Department of Health and Human Services and a lot of boards and commissions and bureaus throughout the bureaucracy,” Matt Spalding of the Heritage Foundation said. “We counted about 180 or so.”
There has been much focus on the mandate that all Americans obtain health insurance, but analysts say that’s just a small part of the law — covering only a few pages out of the law’s 2700.
“The fact of the matter is the mandate is about two percent of the whole piece of the legislation,” Spalding said. “It’s a minor part.”
Much bigger than the mandate itself are the insurance exchanges that will administer $681 billion in subsidies over 10 years, which will require a lot of new federal workers at the IRS and health department.
“They are asking for several hundred new employees,” Dorn said. “You have rules you need to write and you need lawyers, so there are lots of things you need to do when you are standing up a new enterprise.”
For some, though, the bottom line is clear and troubling: The federal government is about to assume massive new powers.
Wild Thing’s comment……………..
Add to all of this the tremendous amount of IRS agents that will be overseeing the entire thing…..and our bank accounts they will have control over.
The nightmare has begun.
This whole thing might have had a different outcome, if the Republican controlled House had done what they were elected to do in 2010.
Instead, under the inspired leadership on John “Weepy” Boehneer, they chose to sit on their hands.
Even now their efforts appear to be tepid and not very committed.
Another point, that seems to have been conviently forgotten, is the fact that there are a number of additional taxes, included in this monstrosity, that have nothing to do with Health Care.
As an example, there will be a levy imposed, should you choose to sell property,which will be quite prohibitive, if I understand it correctly.
The folks that drafted this bill saw to it that there were numerous riders attached, that were not Health Related. They knew that the tenor of the Country was against the idea, but they also knew that the Progressives held the majorities in both Houses, thereby insuring the bills passage.
They also counted on people like John Boehner, to do what they did. Talk a lot but take no action.
There are no guarantees of anything being done to repeal this “Unconstitutional” piece of crap, if Romney gets elected and if the Republicans win the majority in both Houses.
We were given to understand that that would be the case in 2010, and we all see how well that worked.
If History teaches us anything, as to how this Country operates, it is this. Once a Bureaucracy is established and put in motion, it is like a snowball running down hill.
My friends I think that we are witnessing such a phenominon now, and by the time Jan. 20, 2013 comes around, it will be too late.
A few events in modern times have altered or described a major direction change in America. 7 Dec 1942 and the Pearl Harbor attack is one event. I think the year of 1968 was also a significant milestone. The height of the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the anti war demonstrations and counter culture movement, the 1968 Democrat convention and riots, the beginning of wide spread drug usage, the race riots all added up to make 1968 a momentous year marking a change in American culture. The fall of Soviet communism in 1989 was another defining moment. Of course, the 9 Sep 2001 muslim attacks on America and what I consider a very tepid response will forever be a major page of America’s history.
Now I think 2008-20012 will be marked as another enormous event in our history. The election of Barack Hussein obama to the presidency and his Marxist mindset, his tendency to consolidate power to the executive branch with an army of “czars”, his unfettered massive deficit spending, his rejection of American Exceptionalism and his attacks on The US Constitution mark an attempt to shift America from a constitutional republic to a democratic socialist govt.
We are living a major turning point in American life and culture. Pessimisticly, I don’t forsee a significant reversal of obamacare(American socialism). Parts of it may be rejected, but now that SCOTUS has done the unthinklable and legitimized this abomination it is probably the blueprint for future American govt. The Constitution and it’s restraints on govt. has been rendered outdated, null and void and former individual rights of American citizens have been exchanged now for cradle to grave govt. control. We are now Europe.
Only a very exceptional individual or individuals can reverse this socialist tidal wave. Someone even more determined and capable than Ronald Reagan. For sure that person will not occupy the Oval Office for the next four years. Maybe an Allen West type who is determined, set in his beliefs and doesn’t flip flop to profit politically from the fad of the moment. I will continue to keep a flicker of optimism for the future but will plan for the worst.
Thank you so much all of you and for your love for our country. I share the same feelings you all have about what is happening and the future of our country. I am worried, and afraid at the same time.