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like, omg, no way!

An appeals court heard arguments Wednesday that focused on the constitutionality of ObamaCare's individual mandate. But if the judges have any sense of mercy, they'll put this entire misbegotten law out of its misery.

At the hearing before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, a group of 26 states — representing more than half the U.S. population — argued that the law's individual mandate is an unconstitutional overreach that would, if left standing, hand the federal government virtually unlimited authority to force Americans to do just about anything it wanted.

That's the most glaring problem with ObamaCare. As legal challenges to it drag on, the list of ObamaCare's other failings keeps growing. For example:

• A study by the McKinsey Group found that 30% of employers say they will definitely or probably drop health coverage after 2014, when ObamaCare fully kicks in. Among companies most familiar with the law, the figure is 50%. That's more than ObamaCare backers claimed, and it would mean disruption in coverage for millions of families and huge new federal costs.

• President Obama said his overhaul would "bend the cost curve" of health care down. It's having the opposite effect. PriceWaterhouseCoopers expects health spending to climb 8.5% on top of last year's 7.5% gain.

• A key Medicare alteration is already in serious trouble. The law relies on newly created Accountable Care Organizations to drive quality and cut costs by rewarding doctors and hospitals for meeting both goals. But a multiyear test of this concept largely failed to save money. Worse, key providers say the administration's ACO rules are so complex, they're unworkable.

• Another cost-saving brainchild of ObamaCare — the Independent Payment Advisory Board — is drawing bipartisan critics who want it repealed because it would let a group of 15 unelected experts have virtually unlimited authority to make Medicare provider cuts, which they say will lead to rationing care for seniors.

The law's subsidized "high-risk pools," set up for those who can't get coverage because of pre-existing conditions, were supposed to attract hundreds of thousands of enrollees. So far, a mere 18,000 have signed up. In desperation, the administration is lowering its standards and upping the subsidies to goose enrollment.

• ObamaCare's interim insurance market changes — which among other things forced insurers to raise their spending limits — threatened to push millions of workers off the insurance rolls entirely, forcing the administration to hand out more than a thousand waivers.

Meanwhile, forcing people to have insurance remains hugely unpopular, with 67% opposed to it, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey. And more people want the entire law repealed than want it preserved.

Keep in mind that all these problems are emerging before ObamaCare's most complex and onerous provisions come into effect starting in 2014.

The courts could spare the country the worst of ObamaCare by overturning the individual mandate, but that's no substitute for Congress' repealing this monstrosity in its entirety before we find out what else is horribly wrong with it.

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Yep. Pelosi and Reid and their crooked cronies took a noble idea and found a way to completely and totally screw it up.  Individual mandate should sink this plan too.  Should have already sunk it.

I think there should be a way to help people with real medical needs and do it better than we currently do.  Currently if you go to a hospital, they'll patch you up so that you dont actually die.  But if you are in agony and needed a hip transplant...tough.  If you need dental care...tough.  If you need glasses or a knee replacement, too bad.

Also if you had a minor bout with cancer but are currently free of it...you're gonna have a tough time getting insurance...even if you could afford it.  And most of us cant.

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Originally Posted by Dennis Young:
Yep. Pelosi and Reid and their crooked cronies took a noble idea and found a way to completely and totally screw it up.  

they did what they wanted to do. obamacare is meant to bring about a singlepayer system, by destroying existing healthcare system. it's meant to put private insurance companies out of business, and force people onto the public exchanges. this is all by design. that's the reason they phased it all in over such a long period.

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Judges on a federal appeals court panel on Wednesday repeatedly raised questions about President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, expressing unease with the requirement that virtually all Americans carry health insurance or face penalties.

All three judges on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel questioned whether upholding the landmark law could open the door to Congress adopting other sweeping economic mandates.

The Atlanta panel did not immediately rule on the lawsuit brought by 26 states, a coalition of small businesses and private individuals who urged the three to side with a federal judge in Florida who struck down the law.

But the pointed questions about the so-called individual mandate during almost three hours of oral arguments suggests the appeals court panel is considering whether to rule against at least part of the federal law to expand health care coverage to tens of millions of Americans.

At issue Wednesday was a ruling by U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson of Florida to invalidate the entire law, from the Medicare expansion to a change that allows adult children up to age 26 to remain on their parents' insurance. The government contends that the law falls within its powers to regulate interstate commerce.

Chief Judge Joel Dubina, who was tapped by Republican President George H.W. Bush, struck early by asking the government's attorney "if we uphold the individual mandate in this case, are there any limits on Congressional power?" Circuit Judges Frank Hull and Stanley Marcus, who were tapped by Democratic President Bill Clinton, echoed his concerns later in the hearing.

The government contends that when individuals choose not to obtain insurance, they are in fact making an economic decision that ultimately affects everyone else — because sooner or later everyone needs healthcare.

Opponents to the legislation, however, say based on that logic, there would be no limit on government’s ability to intrude in people’s lives in any arena, due to anticipated consequences of their inactivity.
One indication the Obama administration is taking the lawsuit quite seriously: It dispatched its top lawyer, acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal, to present the government’s oral arguments Wednesday. Such cases are usually presented by a Justice Department attorney.

Another sign the stakes are high in the case: About 50 protesters gathered outside the courtroom, most of them shouting anti-Obamacare chants. About 10 healthcare-reform supporters were also on hand, according to media reports.

Shortly after the hearing, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a statement expressing confidence that the states and the NFIB had presented a strong case.

“The federal government could not rebut our argument that the individual mandate is an unprecedented intrusion on individual liberty,” she stated. “The federal government could also not articulate any principled limit on Congress’s power. Simply put, the federal government failed to justify Congress’s decision, for the first time in American history, to force citizens to purchase a product.”

Harned said the panel probably will issue its ruling in September. Obamacare opponents hope the case works its way through the appellate courts fast enough to get on the U.S. Supreme Court’s docket in time for a June 2012 decision.

That timing could present serious political risk for the president, if his healthcare reforms are invalidated on the eve of the 2012 elections.

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I just think healthcare is much too expensive for the "average" family...I know we had to change our healthcare this year...after many years of being on one plan...because we could not afford the double digit increase -- still had almost that type of increase, by changing.  Yet....all those who are on "benefits" (ie: foodstamps) get free medical coverage...and use it to the extreme.  I'm wondering if the time is coming where they take pretty "unhealthy" people (by choice...unhealthy) and put them into a pool and charge them more money.  I'm tired of feeling like I'm paying for every "low life" who doesn't feel like working....when is my FREE SPACE coming?!!

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did you know that obamacare has been found to increase healthcare costs by 8%. over the 7% increase that was projected?

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a new analysis of ObamaCare, confirming that our nation's health care costs will increase rather than decrease under ObamaCare and violating a pledge President Obama made repeatedly to the nation.

CMS concluded:

    Uninsured and those employers who don't offer coverage will pay $120 billion in taxes.

     National health care expenditures will increase by $311 billion.
    

     Health care increases to 21 percent of GDP by 2019.

    ObamaCare spends more than $828 billion for health care coverage.  (CMS didn't analyze all the tax increases, such as HSAs, FSAs,  increasing the AGI threshold, etc.)

    The government will spend $410 billion to expand Medicaid.

    Medicaid enrollment increases by 20 million new beneficiaries.

    18 million people will be uninsured (excluding 5 million illegal immigrants).

    50 percent of seniors will lose their Medicare Advantage plans.

    Some of the Medicare cost-control mechanisms may not be sustainable.

    Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) will run a deficit in 15 years.

    The $5 billion for High Risk Pools is not enough.

    Doctors may drop out of Medicare because of the changes in Medicare reimbursement rates.

    Medicare "savings" may be difficult to achieve.

http://www.gop.gov/policy-news/10/04/23/cms-confirms-obamacare-will-increase

this is why i say this is a freaking disaster.