Warning: Obamacare Contains Unhealthy Surprises

After another stinging legal defeat, President Obama's massive health care law has been placed on life support.   The latest blow came when the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the provision mandating government insurance coverage is unconstitutional.

Despite this and two other legal setbacks, the Obama Administration continues to snub the courts, instead quietly amassing the bureaucracy needed to oversee the gargantuan government program.  Payrolls are being fattened at both the Internal Revenue Service and the Health and Human Services Department in anticipation of implementation.

Because of the government's stealth approach, most Americans are unaware of the pervasive bureaucracy that will be required to administer federal health care.  If the U.S. Post Office employs more than one-half million people, how many government workers will be needed to oversee a trillion dollar health care program?

No answer has been forthcoming from the Obama Administration.  Whatever the number, the bureaucracy will require round-the-clock feeding from the government trough.  Not to worry because the feds have grand plans to raid your wallet beginning less than two years from now in 2013. 

The implementation date was selected by the Democrat controlled House and Senate in 2010 to save Obama from having to defend unpopular taxes during the presidential campaign next year. Shortly after the election, the government will usher in the New Year with a hodgepodge of new taxes aimed at raising more than $503 billion over six years.

An increase in payroll taxes for businesses and individuals will be one of the first to be unleashed beginning in 2013.  The current payroll tax of 1.45 percent will almost double to 2.35 percent for individuals making more than $200,000 annually.  This tax has been part of the Social Security and Medicare deductions on most individuals' checks.

While this tax targets upper income earners, it is likely to include more middle income families.  If history is any indication, entitlement expenses always grow faster than Treasury's revenues, making it unlikely any taxpayers will be spared from paying for the imposing government scheme.

In addition, the health care revision mandates payroll tax rates will apply to investment income, including capital gains, stock dividends, rents and royalties in 2013.  This marks the first time in U.S. history that investment income will be subject to a payroll taxes. 

In 2016, individuals will be required to purchase government health care insurance.  Employers with more than 50 workers will be forced to provide health insurance or incur stiff fines.

Things go from bad to worse in 2018.  All individuals will be forced to pay a new 40 percent excise tax on private health insurance plans, including those offered by business employers, that are deemed too generous by the government.

By the end of 2019, The Heritage Foundation estimates that the total tax burden of Obamacare on the economy will skyrocket to $102 billion annually.

But that doesn't tell the whole story.  Besides the taxes already mentioned, there are 14 other changes to tax law that eliminate deductions, hike taxes and increase fees.  Although aimed mostly at companies, consumers always end up picking up the tab for increased business costs in the form of higher prices.

Taxes won't be the only burden for individuals. Americans are likely to find the cost of private insurance prohibitive.  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimate that private insurance costs are expected to rise a stunning 88 percent. 

No wonder the price tag for Obamacare has been hard to pin down.  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an updated analysis in March, raising the cost into the $1.1 trillion stratosphere.  But that forecast will likely prove too low because the medical coverage standards have not been spelled out by the Institute of Medicine, the independent agency charged with the task of defining benefits.

Meanwhile, the states are facing a January 1, 2013, deadline to submit detailed plans based on the new standards.  Insurance companies find themselves in the same predicament, prompting a Blue Cross and Blue Shield official to recently complain about the difficulty in planning for the new law without standards.

Businesses are facing equal uncertainty, particularly those offering health care coverage to employees.   Future benefit costs are clouded, which has caused businesses to delay hiring.  As a result, some firms and unions have already obtained waivers from the Obama Administration.   Recent estimates put the number at "almost a thousand" exemptions from Obamacare.

One of the first in line to be granted a waiver was the powerful Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents many state and local  government workers.  That is no coincidence because the 2.1 million-member union was one of the president's chief supporters, filling his campaign coffers with millions of dollars, while supporting his health care reform.   

Once Obamacare coverage begins it will be too late to prevent the government from seizing control of health care, which accounts for 17 percent of the economy.  Washington has never once in its history repealed an entitlement program.  That's why Congress must unplug Obamacare immediately and terminate the life of this federal boondoggle.