So Can I Drop My Health Insurance Now and Still Get Covered Or What???

[Vast LWC]

No, you cannot. The health care bill is not a free ride, no matter what some people may tell you.

Unless you happen to be an unemployed deadbeat.

THEN it will be free.

If you work you're going to pay through the nose for it. And if you don't, the IRS will kick you out on the street.

Yes sir! Free Health Insurance!

That makes me want to go lose my job. Oh, and I'll have to get my wife fired too!

Because we'll have free health insurance!

Who cares if we won't have a house, or clothing for the kids, or food. We'll have that free health insurance, and that will definitely make up for it....

Right?

 

[WillowTree]

only 50% of Americans pay federal income tax, the rest of you are parasites.

 

[Sheldon]

AT+T, Verison, Catapillar, J Deare, and several other large corporations have come out publicly and warned, which by the way, they are required to do by law, under SEC rules and GAAP rules, that this bill will cost millions if not billions of dollars in write downs. AT+t stated the bill will cost them 1 billion in the first year of the plan- Obama care eliminated a tax deduction on prescription drugs for their retiree's that will no longer be in effect. This will cause AT+t to drop that benefit, raise premiums, lay people off any number of things in order to make up for this shortfall.

I can't link to other sites yet, but if you go to BusinessWeek and search for "Verizon", then sort by date, the site posted an article about this today. Maybe someone else could post the link for me?

Here's an excerpt:

Verizon follows AT&T Inc., the biggest U.S. carrier, Deere & Co., Caterpillar Inc. and other companies in disclosing similar expenses after losing a tax benefit for retiree plans. The costs may reduce corporate profits by as much as $14 billion as companies account for the impact of the health-care reforms, according to benefits consulting firm Towers Watson.

“While it is a non-cash charge, it does reflect real value destruction, based on expected cash flows over the life of the company,” said Jonathan Schildkraut, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. in New York. Schildkraut, who anticipated Verizon would book an expense of about $750 million, advises investors to buy the company’s shares and doesn’t own any himself.

--cut--

While the costs erode profit, the new law won’t hurt the company’s ability to compete against its rivals, Schildkraut said.

“This bill doesn’t make Verizon any less well positioned vis-à-vis cable competitors or AT&T,” he said. “It doesn’t make AT&T any less well positioned.”

Standard & Poor’s said today that the charge won’t affect Verizon’s credit rating. The cost relative to the company’s revenue along with the deferral of higher cash taxes won’t materially impact the company’s credit profile, S&P said in a statement.

--cut--

Craig Mathias, founder of wireless consultant Farpoint Group, said consumer prices for communications services may climb in about a year as the economy recovers.

“The money is going to come from somewhere,” Mathias said. “Guess where it’s going to come from? Us customers.”

 

[NYcarbineer]

The whole pre-existing conditions thing in the bill is one that Republicans in Congress profess to agree with.

 

[Political Junky]

Anyone know? I pay $1000 a month for my family... Thanks.

Sure, you and your family drop your insurance. Let us know how that works out for you.