by Eli Chisholm

Created on: March 26, 2010

The healthcare bill is not the death of American small business entrepreneurship in America, but it is a very big nail in it's coffin.  The bill was created to help those without the means to afford healthcare, to ensure that everyone gets a fair chance at protecting their own wellness, at a reasonable cost.  This, however, will not be the case.

The main concern many have with the healthcare bill isn't it's coverage, but it's methods of paying for that coverage, and the penalties for non-conformance.  Plenty of people are celebrating; this is healthcare without costs for those in need!

Sadly, this is not the case.

Included in this bill are a tax on medical equipment, a tax on medical prescriptions (flat tax, regardless of tax bracket or income level), a tax on any health insurance coverage (regardless of tax bracket or income level), a heavy tax on anyone opting for health insurance that has coverage exceeding the federal guidelines (regardless of tax bracket or income level), a penalty on companies having over 30 employees  at $2,000 per employee EVERY QUARTER (regardless of company income levels), and an added $3,000 penalty for having any employee who DOES qualify and opts into the federal healthcare plan every quarter, on top of the $2,000 penalty already in place.  "No new taxes for anyone who makes under $200,000 a year," we were told.  And yet, what do we see?

A tax, and a tax, and yet another tax.  And the greatest burden is put on those who would most need the federal help, by being the largest liability to the very companies they are struggling to be hired by and continue to work for.  Because for every single parent, for every struggling graduate, for every middle class family, the choice is now this: pay more money than ever before for your healthcare, or risk being too great a liability to continue employment. Oh, and we'll tax you on your income either way.  For those that need regular medications, or are on fixed income, this is a disaster; prescription drugs will be more expensive than ever.  And with added expenses on simply administering care, costs for doctor's visits, medical procedures, and even emergency care will go through the roof.  Many small practices will go under, thanks to excessive costs in their own insurance, on top of added costs if they operate outside of the federal standards put out for health care providers.

And where does all this money go?  To a system that generates debt before it even exists. To a system that, once passed, immediately begins to do harm to the livelihood of every single American, that wrecks small businesses, that creates a disincentive for companies to hire those most in need of a job.  To a system that, by an large, was opposed by Americans, and was thrust upon them, since we obviously don't know what is good for us.

Speaker Pelosi said that this bill would create a renaissance in the American workplace, and would invigorate the entrepreneurial spirit of Americans.  I wonder if she was reading the same bill that was passed.  All I see are the ashes of the American workplace, and more hungry, uninsured masses. 

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