On April 15, President Obama signed legislation that rescinds the burdensome 1099 requirement that was inserted into the healthcare reform legislation to help fund Obamacare.
The idea was simple enough. Increase reporting of independent contractor work that is reported via 1099’s.
The Democrats figured this would get them a few extra $Billions in tax revenue.
Americans thought otherwise. The 1099 requirement was seen as an intrusive gesture into an already burdensome tax world. (The new requirement would basically mandate reporting of all expenses over $600 even to vendors who were not “employed” by a company.)
Americans won this round, and thus, the first demantling of Obamacare.
Whether further, meaningful demantling occurs will depend entirely upon the 2012 elections. Without stout majorities in both the House and Senate, effective legislation will not pass, regardless of the Party in the White House.
In the meantime, health plan premiums continue to rise with no abatement in sight. This is due in large part to Obamacare mandates, most noticeably the mandatory coverage of children (as dependents) under age 19 regardless of health conditions. Although this is a good thing for parents with children who have pre-existing conditions, unfortunately, the Democrats failed to offset this requirement by mandating that all children under 19 be covered under a health plan, regardless of health. Thus, the only ones left to subsidize the unhealthy children – are all the rest of us.
The sooner we face up to the fact that this is no longer “insurance,” the sooner we’ll be on the path to real discussion – whether or not we really want a socialistic healthcare system here.
As I’ve said countless times before, when the Democrats had the opportunity to shove something down our throats, they should have shoved an effective “single-payer” system instead of this monstrosity cleverly disguised as insurance coverage.
They had one shot to shove. They blew it. Now we’re going to be paying for it for decades and decades.
CDR