You don't need to poke me, this is painful enough to watch play out. I have been paying attention. IRS is probably hiring this year to ramp up enforcement to collect new health care related taxes.
One small piece of good news is trends seen in private insurance exchanges where employees are given a budget to select their own plan from the private exchange selections. Employees are choosing lower-cost higher-deductible plans, so there is more market feedback in their health-care decision making (a good thing). While this is not saving the employers any money since they are paying for more employees being covered, but at least a narrow glimmer of the free market invisible hand. I don't expect the public exchanges crafted by the government to be as free market.
The Republicans continue tilting at windmills calling to defund Obama-care with their budget proposal. The democrats continue to dream, calling for like another Trillion in tax increases. We are still waiting for the president's budget proposal, any bets? At least for the first time in years we are actually having a proper budget discussion in congress, instead of yet another continuing budget resolution. While technically the presidents budget proposal is supposed to come first not last.
Me, I don't think the republicans need to de-fund Obama-care because it was never fully funded in the first place. We do need to stop the growing borrowing and accumulation of more government debt that is unsustainable. Obama care is apparently the law of the land, we need to figure out how to make it actually work without sinking the total economy (the current trajectory IMO).
Of course I could be wrong...
JR
