COLUMNISTS

Are you a victim, too?

— It’s been two years since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act became the law of the land-an anniversary that is no cause for celebration. While liberals toast the president’s ignominious landmark law, the American people have come to their own conclusion: The law was a serious mistake, and it’s time for it to go.

The latest news of the law’s impact comes from a just-released Congressional Budget Office report. In one of the CBO’s reported scenarios, 20 million Americans could lose their employer-sponsored health benefits, and 49 million more could become dependent on government-sponsored health care.

And it won’t come cheaply for taxpayers. Projecting through 2022, the law could cost as much as $2.134 trillion, and individual and employer mandate penalties could hit $221 billion. No wonder one Rasmussen poll found that 53 percent of Americans favor repeal.

CBO expects more employers than was first predicted to stop offering coverage and instead pay the penalty. Why would they choose to pay a penalty? Because they’ll find it more cost-effective than to offer health care by the government’s rules. More individuals will also end up paying the penalty for not purchasing insurance.

According to Rea Hederman of The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis, “individual mandate penalties will increase by one third, or $11 billion, as more individuals choose not to purchase insurance” than previously predicted by CBO.

The issue of the individual mandate is coming to a head soon. This week, the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the constitutionality of the health-care law’s individual mandate that forces Americans to buy government-dictated health insurance or pay a penalty. If the American people had any say, it’s clear how they would decide. According to a new ABC/Washington Post poll, two out of every three say the court should strike down the mandate.

There’s another unconstitutional mandate that the Obama administration is imposing on Americans: the anti-conscience mandate that religious employers, including schools, hospitals and charities, must provide contraception despite the fact that such services totally contradict many of these groups’ core religious beliefs.

This trampling of the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of religion is so egregious that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has voiced its strong opposition to the directive, along with more than 2,700 evangelical pastors and Christian leaders, who have signed a letter to the president in defense of liberty. On this issue, too, a vast majority of Americans agree that the health-care law has gone too far: 57 percent favor an exemption for religious affiliated employers, and 51 percent support a religious and moral exemption for all employers.

Those who know health care best-America’s doctors-also believe that the law is the wrong move for the country’s health care system. Heritage’s Alyene Senger writes that, according to a new survey, 60 percent of physicians believe the law will have a negative impact on overall patient care.

“According to the survey,” Senger writes, “nine out of 10 physicians are unwilling to recommend health care as a profession to a family member, and one primary-care physician even commented, ‘I would not recommend becoming an M.D. to anyone.’ ” Meanwhile, Senger explains, the law is encouraging those who are already practicing medicine to leave the profession, exacerbating what could be a severe physician shortage.

Under the law, costs will go up, people will lose the coverage they have, and the quality of care will decline. Individuals and businesses will face penalties, senior citizens will feel the effects of the law’s cuts to Medicare, doctors will suffer from increased regulation and lower government reimbursement for services.

Meanwhile, taxpayers will face new taxes, jobs will be lost, millions of Americans will remain uninsured and stuck in overcrowded emergency rooms, religious institutions and the faithful will suffer the loss of their religious liberties, and future generations will pay the costs.

This is only a handful of the groups being harmed by the president’s health-care law. And if the law is not repealed, you could be one of them, too.

———◊-

———

Mike Brownfield is an assistant director dealing with communications at The Heritage Foundation.

Editorial, Pages 10 on 03/26/2012

Upcoming Events