As we have said in previous posts, the problems with the website while both serious and embarrassing, are the tip of the iceberg. The basic foundation of the plan is getting young healthy people to sign up. The theory is that because they are healthy they will not incur much in the way of expenses thereby freeing up the payment that they make to cover the expenses of the sick people. Again in theory, the individual mandate would ensure they register because otherwise they would have to pay fines to the IRS if they did not register. But here is where theory and reality part company Under normal circumstances, the IRS has an arsenal of tools it can use to collect money from taxpayers, but shockingly Obamcare as it is written expressly prohibits the IRS from using tax liens, garnishments and the other powerful legal tools that it has. Instead, the IRS can only collect the fine by offsetting it against potential refunds.
The implications of this are obvious and quite profound. If a person manages his federal withholding during the year (which by the way is not hard to do), so that they do not get a refund, they can basically ignore the individual mandate and flip the bird at the IRS. You really wonder how many people actually read the 2,500 page monstrosity. How could they overlook something so basic to the long term success of the plan? If young healthy people don't sign up Obamacare is basically screwed and the government is once again going to be on the hook for money that it doesn't have. Given how the latest budget fiasco went, how do you think it will play out when the administration says we need more money to fund Obamacare?
I wish I could be Rip van winkle and just go to sleep for twenty years so as not to have to put up with this idiocy on a daily basis.
