2014: Obamacare Puts Down Roots for the Long Haul

Yes, Obamacare has raised premiums, caused people to lose their health coverage, raised taxes, and more. But on January 1, Obamacare started digging in for the long haul: putting down the deep roots of entitlement programs.

Entitlements—like the big three of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—are the biggest causes of America’s spending and debt crisis. And Obamacare creates a new entitlement program while expanding another.

The creation of a new entitlement: Taxpayer-funded subsidies for millions of Americans

Obamacare created insurance exchanges to sell and subsidize government-approved health care plans. Most of those who attain coverage through the exchanges will have their costs partially subsidized by federal taxpayers.

By 2023, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that 24 million people will obtain coverage in the exchanges, 19 million of whom are expected to receive subsidies. CBO estimates that together, the subsidies will cost taxpayers nearly $1.1 trillion from 2014-2023.

Who can get a subsidy?

• Those earning between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($11,490 to $45,960 for individuals and $23,550 to $94,200 for a family of four in 2013) will be eligible for premium subsidies that are applied on a sliding scale, with the lowest income receiving the highest premium subsidy.
• Those who purchase a silver plan in the exchange and earn between 100 percent and 250 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for cost-sharing subsidies to help offset their out-of-pocket costs, in addition to the premium subsidy.

Via: The Foundry

Continue Reading....

$100 Billion in Benefits Awarded by Judges with High Social Security Approval Rates

Hundreds of judges across the country with abnormally high approval rates for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments awarded about $100 billion in lifetime benefits between 2005 and 2012, raising further questions about a program that could be insolvent in just three years.

An analysis by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform found that judges with approval rates higher than 80 percent, about 30 percent of all administrative law judges (ALJs) nationwide in past years, awarded billions of dollars in benefits in almost 140,000 cases as recently as 2009. The number of awards has since declined to about 46,000 last year.

“Not all of those are incorrect but there are significant amounts,” said Rep. James Lankford (R., Okla.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care and Entitlements, at a hearing Tuesday, adding that even small amounts of improper payments can imperil the program for the truly disabled.

“We cannot ignore glaring issues that are driving this program into insolvency,” he said.

Almost 11 million disabled workers, spouses, and children receive SSDI benefits—a 45 percent increase from a decade ago—with average monthly payments of $1,130 for disabled workers and $300,000 total over their lifetimes. Social Security estimated in 2009 that less than 1 percent of more than 560,000 beneficiaries reviewed would eventually leave the system because of improved health, suggesting that many recipients stay on the program for life once they start collecting benefits.

Via: WFB

Continue Reading.....

[VIDEO] YOU WILL PROBABLY WANT TO SEE THIS VIDEO OF A MILLENNIAL BLASTING HIS GENERATION FOR THEIR ‘ENTITLEMENT MINDSET’

A young conservative pundit released a video on Sunday aimed at challenging what he says is the “entitlement mindset of millennials.”

Caleb Bonham, a pundit for college news outlet Campus Reform, said that he believes “an overwhelming majority of the millennial generation believes Americans are entitled to security and a dignified life.”

“Too many of America’s college students embrace the notion that because we have abundance we are inherently exceptional and therefore entitled to a secured, worry-free life,” he said in the video.

According to Bonham, however, such an attitude ultimately leads to an endless desire for government handouts.

“The moment America embraced the idea that we are entitled to life’s necessities through government programs, was the moment America planted the seed that everyone is entitled to health insurance, or free daycare, or government provided cell phones,” he said.

“We have the right to receive dignity as human beings, but we are not entitled to dignified lives,” Bonham concluded. “That is to be determined through our individual life choices and accomplishments.”

Via: The Blaze

Continue Reading....

Budget deal opens door to tax, entitlement changes

The deal struck Wednesday in Washington could make it easier for lawmakers to make big changes to tax policy, spending and entitlement programs.

Here's a look at what is in the accord, what didn't make the cut and what's coming down the pipeline.

This deal is an important way forward for big policy changes.

Tom Williams | CQ Roll Call| Getty Images

The U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C.

While a lot of the news focused on the aspects of the deal that ended the shutdown and prevented default, the plan also calls for an agreement by mid-December on a long-term budget plan.

(Related video: S&P on why US won't get AAA rating back yet)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor Wednesday that under his agreement with Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, the two leaders would name members to a bicameral budget conference committee "that will set our country on a long-term path to fiscal sustainability."

Reid announces a bipartisan deal has been reached in the Senate to raise the debt limit and reopen the government.

The House and Senate each have already passed their own conflicting versions of a budget plan for 2014. The aim of this committee would be to come up with a compromise budget blueprint which would then be put to a vote in each House.

Via: CNBC

Continue Reading.....

INFOGRAPHICS: Federal Spending by the Numbers 2012

Several key questions still remain to be asked of President Obama and Governor Mitt Romney during tonight’s debate. Among them: What would each of them do to reduce the growing burden of federal spending on American households?

In 2012, the federal government spent $29,700 per American household. Of that amount, $9,400 was deficit spending. Put another way, $3.20 out of every $10 spent was borrowed.

These facts and more are available in a new Heritage report: “Federal Spending by the Numbers 2012.”

In 20 powerful graphics and four detailed tables, “Federal Spending by the Numbers 2012” analyzes government spending trends in the past and future. Heritage experts explain where the federal government spends the most, which areas of the budget have grown the fastest, and when the entitlements and net interest begin to overwhelm all other federal spending.Specific examples of government waste are featured at the end.

By 2025, the major entitlements and net interest will grow to 18.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), devouring all tax revenue at the historical average level. (continues below chart)

Via: The Foundry

Continue Reading...

Chart of the Week: Tax Revenues Devoured by Entitlements

The looming unsustainability of the big three entitlement spending programs—Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security—is not inevitable, but in order to avoid the catastrophic effects of consuming every bit of tax revenue in just one generation, reform is a necessity.

Take a look at Medicare, the largest portion of the projected entitlement expense by the year 2045.

Here’s the projected outlook of spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security by 2045, when entitlement spending matches tax revenues, from Heritage’s Federal Budget in Pictures, using Congressional Budget Office figures:

The need for Medicare reform in light of the impending crisis going forward has elicited the acknowledgement of all sides, which Heritage’s Amy Payne highlighted in a recent Morning Bell:

Via: The Foundry

Continue Reading...