When the Democrats passed Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act, they were sufficiently astute to NOT implement most of this horror until after the 2012 election and for darn good reasons. Nobody can afford Obama's 'affordable' heath care.
Even the New York Times has chirped in on this issue.
Ambiguity in Health Law Could Make Family Coverage Too Costly for Many
The new health care law is known as the Affordable Care Act. But Democrats in Congress and advocates for low-income people say coverage may be unaffordable for millions of Americans because of a cramped reading of the law by the administration and by the Internal Revenue Service in particular....The Democrats understand full well that they will take a hit and incur the wrath of its base when the reality surfaces that a low income working class family is forced to shell out 12% of its income for government mandated 'affordable' health insurance.
Under the law, most Americans will be required to have health insurance starting in 2014. Low- and middle-income people can get tax credits and other subsidies to help pay their premiums, unless they have access to affordable coverage from an employer.
The law specifies that employer-sponsored insurance is not affordable if a worker’s share of the premium is more than 9.5 percent of the worker’s household income. The I.R.S. says this calculation should be based solely on the cost of individual coverage for the employee, what the worker would pay for “self-only coverage.”
Critics say the administration should also take account of the costs of covering a spouse and children because family coverage typically costs much more.
In 2011, according to an annual survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance averaged $5,430 a year for single coverage and $15,070 for family coverage. The employee’s share of the premium averaged $920 for individual coverage and more than four times as much, $4,130, for family coverage.
Under the I.R.S. proposal, such costs would be deemed affordable for a family making $35,000 a year, even though the family would have to spend 12 percent of its income for full coverage under the employer’s plan.
The debate over the meaning of affordable pits the Obama administration against its usual allies. Many people who support the new law said the proposed rules could leave millions of people in the lower middle class uninsured and frustrate the intent of Congress, which was to expand coverage.
Of course, the Democratic solution to the the world's most expensive healthcare system is to raise taxes and provide 'free' but very expensive healthcare. However, the big problem with the US healthcare system is that it's unaffordable at any price.
America spends more on heathcare than any nation on the planet and by a wide margin.
U.S. healthcare costs the most but isn't the best: Report
Health Care Costs To Reach Nearly One-Fifth Of GDP By 2021
Clearly, the US healthcare system isn't working for us. It's hugely expensive, grossly inefficient, bureaucrat heavy and doesn't even deliver basic quality healthcare.
Such is the legacy of a nation that once proudly boasted of the world's finest healthcare system but that was long before the government got involved.
For more on the healthcare issue, see:
The Absurdity of US Healthcare and OMG, the Hysteria over SCOTUS upholding the Obamacare Tax! Under What Circumstances Would This Government Hating Libertarian Reluctantly Support a Single Payer Healthcare System?
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