Obamacare’s Revenge: The IRS Will Not Process Your Tax Return Unless You Tell Them Whether You Have Health Insurance Or Not

Yes, this is a true story.  I was completely shocked when I learned about this too, and this just underscores the importance of repealing the individual mandate immediately.  Shortly after taking office, President Trump issued an executive order which was intended to move the IRS away from enforcing Obamacare’s individual mandate, but now the IRS has found a way around that executive order.  According to the official AARP website, the IRS has announced that it will not process any tax returns from individuals that are not willing to disclose whether they currently have health insurance or not…

The Internal Revenue Service won’t process individual tax returns in 2018 unless taxpayers indicate whether they have health insurance coverage or an exemption.

The move, announced last month, reverses course from this year, when the IRS said it would not require filers to indicate on 1040 tax forms whether they had health insurance. Filers were still required to have medical insurance or pay a penalty, but the IRS accepted and processed returns even if taxpayers didn’t indicate coverage status.

So what this means is that you will not get your refund until you tell the IRS if you have health insurance.

And if you don’t have health insurance and you don’t qualify for an exemption, you could be hit with a very painful financial penalty.

Of course purchasing health insurance in some parts of the country is enough of a penalty as it is.  For example, I recently wrote about a family of four in Virginia that is now facing the prospect of paying $3,000 a month for health insurance.

Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

And it also turns out that the IRS is going back and sending threatening letters to those that didn’t indicate if they were covered or not on previous tax returns.  Here is more from the AARP…

IRS spokesman Bruce Friedland said it followed a review of IRS procedures.

“The IRS has determined that ‎it is more burdensome for taxpayers to allow them to file an incomplete tax return and then have to manage follow-up letters and potentially amend their return,’’ Friedland said. “Identifying omissions and requiring taxpayers to provide health coverage information at the point of filing makes it easier for the taxpayer to successfully file a tax return and minimizes related refund delays.”

In September, the IRS started sending letters to about 130,000 taxpayers who didn’t address the health care requirement on 2014 and 2015 tax returns.

So if you left that section of your tax return blank in previous years, you should be expecting a letter in the mail very soon.

At this point, many of you that are reading this article are probably starting to get very angry.  After all, didn’t President Trump sign an executive order earlier this year that was going to end enforcement of the individual mandate?

Unfortunately, that was not the case at all.  In fact, Politico is reporting that the Trump administration “is still dutifully enforcing Obamacare’s individual mandate”…

The Trump administration is still dutifully enforcing Obamacare’s individual mandate, despite early signals it might undermine the unpopular linchpin of the health care law.

Weeks after the close of tax season, the IRS continues to process penalties from potentially millions of taxpayers who refused to purchase health insurance last year.

That’s even though hours after taking office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump issued a vaguely worded executive order instructing federal agencies to waive or defer parts of Obamacare that would “impose a fiscal burden” on states, individuals or health care providers.

Enough is enough.

Obamacare should have been repealed on the very first day of the Trump administration, but unfortunately the RINOs in Congress are going to keep blocking any effort to do that.  Elections really matter, and in 2018 we need to kick out the RINOs and put in new leaders that are fully committed to a 100% repeal of Obamacare.

We also need to do something about the IRS.  They have always been a rogue agency, but now they have gotten completely and totally out of control.  I am running for Congress in Idaho’s first congressional district, and I believe that we should completely shut down the IRS.

The status quo is simply not acceptable.  Obamacare is financially crippling families all across America, and we should be absolutely disgusted that Congress has not found a solution to this problem even though they have had almost an entire year to get something done.

The post Obamacare’s Revenge: The IRS Will Not Process Your Tax Return Unless You Tell Them Whether You Have Health Insurance Or Not appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Healthcare Spending Now Accounts For Almost One-Fifth Of The Entire U.S. Economy

Everybody agrees that healthcare costs are way too high.  Back in 1960, healthcare spending accounted for approximately 5 percent of GDP, and by 2020 it is being projected that healthcare spending will account for 20 percent of GDP.  And when you break those numbers down into actual dollars, they become even more staggering.  Back in 1960, an average of $146 was spent on healthcare per person for the entire year, but today that number has skyrocketed to $9,990.  On a per capita basis, we spend far more than anyone else in the world on healthcare.  In fact, we spend almost twice as much as most other industrialized nations on a per capita basis.  Something has gone terribly wrong, and we desperately need to get this fixed.

Just between the years of 1996 and 2013, our spending on healthcare rose by a whopping 900 billion dollars, and it is estimated that healthcare spending now accounts for nearly one-fifth of the entire U.S. economy.  The following comes from the Daily Mail…

US healthcare spending rocketed $900 billion between 1996 and 2013, staggering new data reveal.

Americans spend more money on healthcare than any other population, and increasingly so.

By 2013, total healthcare spending hit $2.1 trillion, according to the study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The researchers say that figure has now likely soared to more than $3.2 trillion, which equates to 18 percent of the country’s economy.

So why is healthcare spending going up so much?

Well, the truth is that our population is aging, obesity is certainly on the rise, and medical care has become much more expensive.  In addition, we should acknowledge there are a couple of other major factors that we should acknowledge as well…

First, the United States relies on company-sponsored private health insurance. The government created programs like Medicare and Medicaid to help those without insurance. These programs spurred demand for health care services. That gave providers the ability to raise prices. Other efforts to reform health care and cut costs raised them instead.

Second, chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and heart disease, have increased. They are responsible for 85 percent of health care costs. Almost half of all Americans have at least one of them. They are expensive and difficult to treat.

As a result, the sickest 5 percent of the population consume 50 percent of total health care costs. The healthiest 50 percent only consume 3 percent of the nation’s health care costs.

Healthcare costs are only expected to rise even more in the years ahead, and so we desperately need to reform our system.

Because as it is, health insurance premiums are becoming completely unaffordable.  According to CNBC, health insurance premiums for plans purchased through an employer will be higher than ever next year…

Next year, employers expect to spend $8,527 per enrolled employee, according to data form the National Business Group on Health. Meanwhile, workers themselves will contribute an average of $2,752 toward their premiums.

And for those that have to purchase their own health insurance, things are even worse.  In fact, it is being projected that the average rate increase for Obamacare plans will be 37 percent in 2018.

When I get elected to Congress, I am going to make repealing Obamacare and fixing our broken healthcare system one of my highest priorities.

We need a system that is focused on the relationship between doctors and patients.  Compared to the rest of the world, we spend way too much on administrative costs, and we desperately need legal reform.  I would like to see Congress legalize the kind of association buying groups that Rand Paul has been proposing, and I would like to see exciting new models such as direct primary care used much more extensively.

There is no way that we should be spending nearly twice as much on healthcare as everyone else in the industrialized world on a per capita basis.  We must streamline the system, and we need to start using some common sense.

Unfortunately, common sense is in short supply in Washington D.C. these days, but hopefully we can start to change that.

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Thanks Obamacare! Health Insurance Premiums Are Projected To Spike Dramatically Once Again In 2018

Are you ready for your health insurance premiums to go up again?  Ever since Obamacare became law, health insurance premiums have been rising dramatically year after year.  In 2016, one study found that the average Obamacare premium rose by about 24 percent, and similar increases have been seen all around the nation in 2017.  As you will see below, large premium hikes are on tap for 2018 as well, and rates are going to continue to rise until lawmakers finally do something about this nightmare.

But even though the Republicans in Congress can’t get their act together, at least President Trump is trying to do what he can on his own…

President Trump proclaimed Friday that his goal is to dismantle his predecessor’s health care plan, hours after his administration suddenly announced that it would halt subsidy payments to insurers.

“ObamaCare is a broken mess,” Trump tweeted. “Piece by piece we will now begin the process of giving America the great HealthCare it deserves!”

Of course Democrats are in quite a panic now that the subsidy payments have been shut off.

In fact, one member of the Senate actually accused President Trump of committing “health-care arson”…

Trump’s decision, announced Friday after months of criticizing the payments as an insurance industry bailout, will throw in doubt the private insurance exchanges that are part of the Affordable Care Act. Democrats vowed to use year-end negotiations on the federal agency budgets as a leverage point to reinstate the payments, vowing to pin the political blame on Republicans if premiums skyrocket next year.

“This is the equivalent of health-care arson. He is literally setting the entire healthcare system on fire just because the president is upset that the United States Congress won’t pass a repeal bill,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said on “Fox News Sunday.

Actually, if anyone should be accused of destroying our healthcare system it is the Democrats.

Since Obamacare was first passed, many Americans have seen their health insurance premiums more than double.

And more rate increases are coming in 2018.  Here in Idaho, it is being projected that Obamacare premiums will rise next year by an average of 38 percent…

Dean Cameron, director of the Idaho state Department of Insurance, announced today that health insurers offering plans on Idaho’s state insurance exchange have proposed premium rate increases next year averaging 38 percent. “I am deeply disappointed and frustrated to share these rates,” Cameron said in a news release; you can read it here. “I understand how difficult it will be for Idahoans to afford reasonable coverage, especially those without a subsidy.”

That is absolutely insane!

And for the most popular silver plans, the average rate increase here in Idaho is going to be around 50 percent…

Idaho Statesman reporter Audrey Dutton reports that the largest increases are proposed in the “silver” plans, which are the most popular ones on the exchange, falling mid-range in pricing and benefits between the lower-level “bronze” plans and the high-end “gold” plans. Silver plans are showing average increases of 50 percent in premiums; they range from a low of 40 percent at Blue Cross to 69 percent at SelectHealth.

Idaho families simply cannot afford these sorts of rate increases, and that is why one of my top priorities as a member of Congress will be to repeal Obamacare immediately.

Of course Idaho is far from alone when it comes to enormous premium increases.  Out on the east coast, residents of Maryland will also see huge Obamacare rate increases in 2018…

The cost of premiums for plans sold on the state’s health exchange will soar for 2018, adding to questions about the stability and affordability of the health insurance program known as Obamacare.

State regulators announced Tuesday that they have approved average rate increases of just over 23 percent to nearly 50 percent, depending on the plan and carrier, increases that surely will burden consumers who get no government subsidies but also potentially still leave insurers in the red.

And we find the exact same thing happening when we look at the middle of the country.  For example, just look at the rate increases that are projected for Illinois…

The Illinois Department of Insurance submitted rates to the federal government Wednesday that would increase the average cost of the lowest-priced silver plans by 35 percentstatewide. The lowest-priced bronze-level plans would increase, on average, by 20 percent, and the lowest-priced gold plans would increase by 16 percent, according to a department analysis obtained by the Tribune.

Most American families are essentially living paycheck to paycheck at this point, and so there is no way that they can afford these types of rate increases.

As a nation, we already spend more per capita on healthcare than anyone else in the entire industrialized world, and yet health insurance premiums continue to rise far faster than the overall rate of inflation year after year.

Our healthcare system is completely and utterly broken, and the more that the federal government interferes the worse things get.

50 years ago, healthcare was very affordable, and we had the greatest healthcare system on the entire planet.  We need a 100% repeal of Obamacare, and we desperately need to return to free market principles.  That is what I plan to fight for, and this is why we simply cannot allow the Democrats to be victorious in 2018.

If the Democrats regain control of either the House or the Senate in 2018, they will completely block any further attempts to dismantle Obamacare, and our healthcare system will continue to rapidly deteriorate.

We have a population that is rapidly aging and a healthcare system that is already overburdened.  Getting our healthcare system fixed is a pressing national priority, and let us hope that these health insurance rate increases will be enough to send hordes of extremely angry conservative voters to the polls for the mid-term elections.

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Thanks Obamacare! Health Insurance Premiums Are Projected To Spike Dramatically Once Again In 2018

Are you ready for your health insurance premiums to go up again?  Ever since Obamacare became law, health insurance premiums have been rising dramatically year after year.  In 2016, one study found that the average Obamacare premium rose by about 24 percent, and similar increases have been seen all around the nation in 2017.  As you will see below, large premium hikes are on tap for 2018 as well, and rates are going to continue to rise until lawmakers finally do something about this nightmare.

But even though the Republicans in Congress can’t get their act together, at least President Trump is trying to do what he can on his own…

President Trump proclaimed Friday that his goal is to dismantle his predecessor’s health care plan, hours after his administration suddenly announced that it would halt subsidy payments to insurers.

“ObamaCare is a broken mess,” Trump tweeted. “Piece by piece we will now begin the process of giving America the great HealthCare it deserves!”

Of course Democrats are in quite a panic now that the subsidy payments have been shut off.

In fact, one member of the Senate actually accused President Trump of committing “health-care arson”…

Trump’s decision, announced Friday after months of criticizing the payments as an insurance industry bailout, will throw in doubt the private insurance exchanges that are part of the Affordable Care Act. Democrats vowed to use year-end negotiations on the federal agency budgets as a leverage point to reinstate the payments, vowing to pin the political blame on Republicans if premiums skyrocket next year.

“This is the equivalent of health-care arson. He is literally setting the entire healthcare system on fire just because the president is upset that the United States Congress won’t pass a repeal bill,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said on “Fox News Sunday.

Actually, if anyone should be accused of destroying our healthcare system it is the Democrats.

Since Obamacare was first passed, many Americans have seen their health insurance premiums more than double.

And more rate increases are coming in 2018.  Here in Idaho, it is being projected that Obamacare premiums will rise next year by an average of 38 percent…

Dean Cameron, director of the Idaho state Department of Insurance, announced today that health insurers offering plans on Idaho’s state insurance exchange have proposed premium rate increases next year averaging 38 percent. “I am deeply disappointed and frustrated to share these rates,” Cameron said in a news release; you can read it here. “I understand how difficult it will be for Idahoans to afford reasonable coverage, especially those without a subsidy.”

That is absolutely insane!

And for the most popular silver plans, the average rate increase here in Idaho is going to be around 50 percent…

Idaho Statesman reporter Audrey Dutton reports that the largest increases are proposed in the “silver” plans, which are the most popular ones on the exchange, falling mid-range in pricing and benefits between the lower-level “bronze” plans and the high-end “gold” plans. Silver plans are showing average increases of 50 percent in premiums; they range from a low of 40 percent at Blue Cross to 69 percent at SelectHealth.

Idaho families simply cannot afford these sorts of rate increases, and that is why one of my top priorities as a member of Congress will be to repeal Obamacare immediately.

Of course Idaho is far from alone when it comes to enormous premium increases.  Out on the east coast, residents of Maryland will also see huge Obamacare rate increases in 2018…

The cost of premiums for plans sold on the state’s health exchange will soar for 2018, adding to questions about the stability and affordability of the health insurance program known as Obamacare.

State regulators announced Tuesday that they have approved average rate increases of just over 23 percent to nearly 50 percent, depending on the plan and carrier, increases that surely will burden consumers who get no government subsidies but also potentially still leave insurers in the red.

And we find the exact same thing happening when we look at the middle of the country.  For example, just look at the rate increases that are projected for Illinois…

The Illinois Department of Insurance submitted rates to the federal government Wednesday that would increase the average cost of the lowest-priced silver plans by 35 percentstatewide. The lowest-priced bronze-level plans would increase, on average, by 20 percent, and the lowest-priced gold plans would increase by 16 percent, according to a department analysis obtained by the Tribune.

Most American families are essentially living paycheck to paycheck at this point, and so there is no way that they can afford these types of rate increases.

As a nation, we already spend more per capita on healthcare than anyone else in the entire industrialized world, and yet health insurance premiums continue to rise far faster than the overall rate of inflation year after year.

Our healthcare system is completely and utterly broken, and the more that the federal government interferes the worse things get.

50 years ago, healthcare was very affordable, and we had the greatest healthcare system on the entire planet.  We need a 100% repeal of Obamacare, and we desperately need to return to free market principles.  That is what I plan to fight for, and this is why we simply cannot allow the Democrats to be victorious in 2018.

If the Democrats regain control of either the House or the Senate in 2018, they will completely block any further attempts to dismantle Obamacare, and our healthcare system will continue to rapidly deteriorate.

We have a population that is rapidly aging and a healthcare system that is already overburdened.  Getting our healthcare system fixed is a pressing national priority, and let us hope that these health insurance rate increases will be enough to send hordes of extremely angry conservative voters to the polls for the mid-term elections.

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