ObamaScare - a distillation of the law

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Nancy Pelosi said we had to pass the law so we could find out what is in it,.  Facts and consequences of the law have come out in dabs and dribbles.  I will try to lay out the facts and consequences as gathered from pundits, editorials, and studies by the States.  Please feel free to correct me with any errors of fact.  Notably this task is a work-in-progress to find out about the consequences of ObamaScare.

Facts (ObamaScare is a minefield full of taxes for every citizen, loopholes, conundrums, and "gotchas")

• The Congressional Budget Office predicts ObamaScare (Affordable Care Act) will cost taxpayers $2 trillion when fully implemented
• The vast majority of the un-insured are being dumped into Medicaid
• Employees at small firms will face an individual tax of as much as $2,085 per family if they do not have the government-sanctioned level of coverage
• Based on Oklahoma Employment Security Commission statistics, 5.67% of Oklahoma employers , who employ 57.9% of the workforce in Oklahoma,  will have to comply with ObamaScare and will likely drop health coverage and possibly downsizing to avoid the high cost of health insurance
• The federal government will provide worker subsidies, by only if you buy a policy through a state exchange (not through a federal exchange)
• Like several other states, Oklahoma is considering not establishing a state exchange because of the high cost to the states.
• If employers raise worker pay too much the employer faces a tax hit coming or going
• Starting in 2014, Americans must report on the income tax return whether they have "qualified" health insurance.  If you do not have a "qualified" plan you have to pay the higher of $95 or 1% of taxable income.  In 2015 the tax rises again, to $695 or 2.5% of taxable income.  
• The IRS will become Big Brother
• Qualified plans will be graded bronze (cover 60% of cost), silver, gold and platinum (cover 90% of cost) - reflecting how much of health care costs are covered by the plan
• Tennessee estimates that ObamaScare will cost them $716 million dollars the first year
• Whether a person/family needs immunizations, mammograms, autism screening, or cholesterol screening, they will be paying for them anyway

Consequences

• ObamaScare expands Medicaid which will likely divert State funds from schools and roads
• Work at too small a business and you might get taxed.  
• Work for a firm with more than 50 employees, you might get fired and then taxed.  
• Work for a large firm with "insufficient" coverage, you might get dumped into your state's Medicaid program or health exchange.  Unless your state does not expand Medicaid or set up an exchange, in which case you just get dumped and then taxed.
• If employers have 40+ workers they will be financially penalized for exceeding 50.  
• The IRS will expand the federal workforce by the thousands - agents, administrators, regulators, etc.