Health care law surprise: $63 per-person fee for three years

WASHINGTONMedical plans are facing an unexpected new fee. It's to help cover people with pre-existing conditions under President Obama's health care overhaul.

The $63-per-head fee -- buried in a recent regulation -- will hit health plans serving an estimated 190 million Americans, mostly workers and their families. It's payable starting in 2014.

Employers are not happy. The cost of compliance works out to tens of millions of dollars for the largest companies, maybe a few hundred for small firms. Most of that will get passed on to workers.

The Obama administration says the money will cushion health insurance companies from the hard-to-predict costs of covering uninsured people with pre-existing conditions, so society will benefit in the long run.

The fee is temporary, raising $25 billion over three years.

[JV1970]

Lawyers-Guns-n-Money06 says:JV1970 replies: I'm retired and on a fixed income. Every penny counts to me.

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And this won't affect your income one bit. However, why is it that I have to pay YOUR medical bills AND Social Security every month. That is NOT fair.

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FrancineBow replies: You voted for Obama didn't you Lawyer? That's why you have to pay you dumb F*K

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knsn_for_cmn_sense replies: JV1970 is getting hers for free. No one else deserves any.

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Lawyers-Guns-n-Money06 replies: Hey Francine, no, I am NOT paying; YOU are.Thank you ever so much.

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MWG1111 replies: FRANCINEBOW - Ad hominem attacks with profanity illustrate the strength of your argument. You clearly lack education and vocabulary - yep you are definitely a tea bagging,greedy little person who is doing the bidding of those screwing you while you want to pay nothing for this country which nurtured you using the argument of limited government while telling people who to sleep with and how to control their bodies.

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steady4ever replies: MWG111...here's something for you to read. Think about it.-- Thomas Jefferson
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
-- Thomas Jefferson
"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save
One-half the wars of the world."

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MomsHugs replies: I really have to chuckle when someone quotes Thomas Jefferson on economic vs social welfare. The man OWNED how many slaves - human beings who did all the work on his farms for absolutely no pay, no bargaining rights, & no health care either. Plus he slept with many of his young slave women who had babies as a result. THINK before typing!

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JV1970 replies: I worked for many years and paid into Medicare and Social Security just like all of you. The only difference is I never had a 401k and the two companies that I worked for required that their employees work for them at least twenty years to be eligible for a company retirement check from them. I fell short of their 20 year requirements.

Since I paid into Medicare and Social Security I have every right to receive it just as all of you do! I am not getting ANYTHING free, knsn_for_cmn_sense!

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JV1970 replies: You aren't paying anything for me! Until I became disabled I held jobs and reported to work everyday just like you and everyone else!

I just didn't have the high paying jobs that you have that makes you so hateful and snobbish! I was a blue collar worker and I punched a time clock everyday. That is probably something you know nothing about!

First I worked at a local garment factory for many years and then I worked at a company that was a Black and Decker affiliate. They made door knobs and deadbolt locks.

You and knsn_for_cmn_sense owe me an apology for saying that I'm getting something for nothing because I worked for a living just like you do!

[JV1970]

I'm still waiting on apologies from Lawyers-Guns-n-Money06 and knsn_for_cmn_sense! They claim to be so much better than me but they're sure not showing it by not being big enough to apologize when they were in the wrong!

They accused me of taking something that I didn't earn and don't deserve. It isn't true! I worked hard to earn what I have just as they do!

[Lindag20]

fendferyerself replies: Marychgo, news flash for you: the companies won't be paying this, the employees will!
Add this to the 15 mil school levy (property tax increase) that the dumb democrat (non-working) voters agreed to in my area, plus the $60 per year "rain water runoff fee" that the (democrat-controlled) water/sewer dept is going to start charging each property owner next year in our County, plus the $100 a year "rubbish pickup fee" that was added (in addition to the property taxes which is supposed to pay for garbage pickup), ......
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What a whiner. EVERY increase in your taxes (and fees) is going to directly BENEFIT YOUR local community. The schools will educate the children in YOUR community, the increase in trash fees is to take care of YOUR and your neighbors' trash pick up and disposal, the run-off fee is to ensure the safety of the water in YOUR community and still you whine. I pay $20.00 a month for trash pick-up where I live (it's not part of my property taxes) which I consider a reasonable amount for the service. I pay school taxes so the children in the community can be educated even though my daughter is an adult and is no longer in school. I pay to have clean water and to protect the water supply and don't complain. Are ALL Republicans as big a cheapskate as you are?

[MomsHugs]

LindaG20: What a relief to read your posts & find at least one reasonable person who THINKS through what taxes are used for. People are SO spoiled by all they have in the USA that provides a high standard of living. Take electricity for example... people have no concept of what it takes to flip the switch & have electric power so they can have all their beloved devices. There is a major disconnect between producing basic services CONTINUOUSLY and using them - let alone their true cost, including long-term environmental costs. Other countries are not so lucky!

[MomsHugs]

As long as I'm piling on, I may as well throw in what you all are paying for cable TV & Internet access, too. Most are paying minimum of $150/MONTH/household... or $1800 per YEAR!! A mere 3% of that cost is a pittance.

If you can afford Internet access to post comments here, please quit whining!!

[Lindag20]

I long ago came to the conclusion that TEA Party and other anti-tax freaks think that the services they receive from the government are FREE as they have NO concept that they need to be paid for by THEM.

[JV1970]

That may be what MOST are paying but NOT ME! My internet and cable service are about half that monthly. My internet service is about $43.00 a month and I only have basic cable. My cable bill is $32.00 a month. I don't have HBO or Showtime or any other premium or sports channels and I don't intend to!

I also just have basic phone service. I don't have unlimited long distance or any of the other unecessary add-ons that you pay a premium price for.

I could cut costs even further if I wanted to go back to dial-up internet service and buy a antenna for my television. I don't want to do that unless I absolutely have to. My internet and cable services are my only indulgence and even they are the cheapest that I can find!

I pinch every penny until Abe Lincoln screams and I'm very proud of that! I refuse to pay one penny more for anything than I have to and that includes for insurance!

And one more thing, I refuse to buy anything new as long as the things that I have are still working. My television is a twelve year old analog type and not a flat screen. My washer was my mother's. She bought it new in 1982. It still works.

[MomsHugs]

Btw... Compare $63/YEAR/person to what you all are willing to shell out per MONTH/person for a cell phone for EACH member of your family old enough to hold one up to their ear!!! You don't even question those high costs!!!

[JV1970]

I do!

[MomsHugs]

What a bunch of whiners! So we all pay $5.25/mo. in 2014, which drops to $3.35 in 2016 - rather than buy 1 meal at McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger-King, PapaJohn's, etc. ONCE a month! This will fund a much lower cost healthcare pool than shifting costs of the ER for the uninsured to YOUR insurance premiums, which is how these costs are currently being paid.

I was thrilled to have Medicare for $97/mo + Supplemental Insurance for $125/mo... because for 15 years, my medical insurance w/a high-deductible MSA increased 20% EACH YEAR! It jumped 60% when I moved to a state with a 30% poor indigent rate. Premiums were more than a mortgage.

I realize these concepts are a bit complex, but then so was Medicare, which has paid the largest share of the costs for educating doctors... over & above tuition revenue.

CBS: Your producers should be airing a nightly program during prime time dedicated to educating the public about economics in general & health care in particular.

[cubscout09]

No doubt! Remember Walter Cronkite and "The Twenty-First Century?" Theme - "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Aaron Copland. Absolutely my favorite show.

[JV1970]

There is nothing in this article that actually says the cost will be $5.25 a month. You are just assuming that will be the cost IF the fee is $63.00 per year. The article doesn't say if the $63.00 fee will be charged by the year. For all we know the fee could be $63.00 per month and that would be a whole different ballgame! Even you would be whining about that!

[FoolishU]

A brief reply to JustSayin55:
ustSayin55 says:
"Does Obama care mean I can go to the Doctor without insurance? Is that the point? I am hearing so much about it I no longer even know how I will benifit. I was going to get a $500 a month plan but if I can get covered anyway then I will just go to the Doctor."

"Also since I am already paying more taxes than most people in America (I am in the top 2%) I would be very happy to go to the Doctor and not pay insurance, because I already pay for it in my opinion due to the oppressive taxes I pay."

Compared to most other industrialized countries you pay (as a percentage of income) lower taxes (believe it or not). Approx 40% of the tax you pay goes to social security. You will get the money paid in back when you retire. When you buy private insurance you don't call it a tax. So really approx. 40% of what you pay to Uncle is not really a tax but a mandated payment to your own retirement fund (Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA).

Obvious you are ill educated on the Affordable Care Act. The act builds on current insurance plans putting in place a base benefit the at a min. gives you 60% medical insurance coverage. It ends rejection for pre-existing conditions, forces younger workers to buy at least a catastrophic policy and allows you to keep a child on your family plan to age 26. The act also changes the basis for hospital reimbursement from fee per service to fee per outcome. Of course you can buy better coverage if you care to. It isn't free....your paying for it as you do now. You will still have a copay. You will still buy a policy the same way you do now. If you are employed then your employer will offer a policy as is done now.
BTW: I really don't believe for a second that you are in the top 2% of earners. If you were you would have a far better understanding for the financial aspects of coming changes as they relate to you. Lets just say your a wannabe rich person. Champagne wishes and Caviar dreams.......Ho Ho Ho

[[e-mail]]

Today its only 63 dollars for three years in three years it will be 84 per month or more. We can pay billions a month for war for which we are criminals yet we can not help our citizens without punishing everyone again by multiple taxation. Why dont you just make us all slaves and be done with it, "oh Fema camps i forgot". For all you out there having babies so the workers can pay for it while you sit on your sorry buts enjoyo your future fema home. Its come you lazy POS earned it.

[wfw3536]

So Obama and the Dems lied to us just like Obamacare wasn't a tax. Wait until folks hear about the almost 20 other taxes and fees associated with Obamacare. Some of the elite liberals seems to think 63 dollars a year for 3 years is ok, which just goes to show you how out of touch they are with real people.

[JV1970]

TimeToEvolve I don't! I don't drink coffee!

[fendferyerself]

Democrats are so clueless about the fallout and ramifications from their pie-in-the-sky plans and laws and nonsense that they come out with.
No clue. Keep up the good work democrats!!
Soon, everyone will be exactly like you: poor, not working (to avoid paying all these fees and healthcare charges), and bumming off the government. Good job!! Pat yourselves on the back !!! Grind your shoe harder into the ground, to quicken this country's journey down the toilet.
You are doing so well.
8 MORE YEARS! 8 MORE YEARS! 8 MORE YEARS!
doofuses!

[fendferyerself]

Newsflash: The EMPLOYERS will not be paying this each individual employee will be. It is just another Fee/Tax added onto more trumped up fees and taxes that the Democrats have come up with, and it is only the beginning, with Obamacare.
And not only will the employees be paying this - that means people who WORK will be the only ones paying it. The scummy people who don't work and collect welfare and obama phones will STILL not be paying anything into this.
You know what? I think they have the right idea. I am starting to catch onto this whole Socialism concept. I see no reason why I should work my butt off to support the 52% of hispanics, blacks, and now-adult-Welfare babies who can vote, and women who want abortions, that voted for Obama. I should just quit my job, cry boo hoo that I am poverty stricken, and I won't have to pay a DIME for any of these fees or new charges or new school levies that the democrats passed in our area. Ha ha hee hee. I finally GET it. Sit on my butt, collect food stamps and welfare, free phone, free cable and satellite, free big screen TV, free utilities, free housing, vote "Yes" for every frickin fee or tax or "obama plan" or school levy that comes down the pike, and laugh at all the doofuses out there toiling away at these companies and getting socked with all these fees.
It is the socialist way: make it so that NO ONE wants to actually make money because most of it gets taken.
Free Ride, Here I come! Yahoooooooooooooooooooo