Friday, January 25, 2013

HEY, SMOKERS: Did the President forget to tell you about the 50% surcharge on your health insurance?

Why, I'll be damned: Nancy Pelosi was right. We really did have to pass it, like a kidney stone, to find out what was in it.

Millions of smokers could be priced out of health insurance because of tobacco penalties in President Barack Obama's health care law, according to experts who are just now teasing out the potential impact of a little-noted provision in the massive legislation.

The Affordable Care Act — "Obamacare" to its detractors — allows health insurers to charge smokers buying individual policies up to 50 percent higher premiums starting next Jan. 1... For a 55-year-old smoker, the penalty could reach nearly $4,250 a year. A 60-year-old could wind up paying nearly $5,100 on top of premiums.

...the law [also] allows insurers to charge older adults up to three times as much as their youngest customers.

Second, the law allows insurers to levy the full 50 percent penalty on older smokers while charging less to younger ones.

And finally, government tax credits that will be available to help pay premiums cannot be used to offset the cost of penalties for smokers.

But don't worry: this has to be fair. Because all smokers are rich.

And we hate the rich.


4 comments:

The MUSEman said...

Imagine...

Now, in addition to taxing the dead, the Progressives can now use "Health" as a revenue stream for the government - First smoking, then drinking, obesity, sloth, meat consumption, driving cars (carbon emissions hurt others), ammunition (lead in the food chain), personal vegetable gardens (unregulated food? Bad!), etc., ad nauseam, and such.

That they may be celebrating this by smoking, drinking, and consuming 3,000 calorie meals of lobster tail, clam chowder, bison meat, etc. only adds to their hypocrisy.

Thanks for reading!

Anonymous said...

From Barry Soetoro's lips to the wallet that resides on your donkey.

Unknown said...

Seems like they don't have anything else to do besides raising taxes, 50% surcharge on health insurance for smoking people is totally ridiculous, they are not doing this to bring down the ratio of tobacco usage, they are actually doing this to fetch more money from our pockets.

Unknown said...

This surcharge will definitely help to bring down the percentage of tobacco usage, people will quit if they want to save money.