Hey, remember back in March when the Democrats’ chief inquisitor on Capitol Hill, Henry Waxman, announced plans to haul up corporate executives who dared to speak the truth about the dire cost consequences of the federal Obamacare mandate?
Now, Waxman is targeting the heads of Deere, Caterpillar, Verizon and AT&T with “invitations” they can’t refuse to testify at an April 21 hearing on their public statements regarding Demcare-caused writedowns. Waxman’s fishing expedition letters sent out last week “asked” the company heads to produce copious documentation.
Business execs are damned if they do disclose how the costs of the new federal health care taxes will hit their bottom line and damned if they don’t. If they stay silent, they’ll be violating Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure requirements passed by Congress after the Enron scandal. If they talk, they’ll be paraded in front of the camera like those poor tobacco heads Waxman waxed more than 15 years ago.
Who’s next? On Monday, Prudential said it would take a $100 million charge in the first quarter thanks to Demcare. In Colorado, the Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. said the health care law will cost $2 million a year starting in 2014. AK Steel Corp., 3M and Valero Energy have all announced similar writedowns. At this rate, if Waxman insists on hauling up every last truth-teller in the marketplace, he’ll be holding an inquisition-a-thon a day.
And that would suit the Witch Hunter of Capitol Hill just fine. If he isn’t meddling, he isn’t working. And if he isn’t using his powers to bully, bulldoze or bankrupt his enemies, he is failing the gods of progressivism.
Waxman backed off, but as I warned, it was only a temporary reprieve.
The truth about Obamacare’s all-too-predictable, real-world consequences keeps coming out and it won’t be long before desperate Dems try to squelch the Obamacare revolt again.
Go ahead, Henry. Double-dog dare you.
Via the WSJ:
Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul in coming weeks, complicating Democrats’ efforts to trumpet their signature achievement before the midterm elections.
Insurers say they plan to raise premiums on some Americans due to the health overhaul, complicating Democrats’ efforts to trumpet their signature achievement before elections. Janet Adamy and Evan Newmark discuss. Also, Justin Lahart discusses the two-track economy for American business, with global players getting boosts from fast-growing foreign markets, while companies focused on the U.S. market are hamstrung by recession-scarred consumers.
Aetna Inc., some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases of between 1% and 9% to pay for extra benefits required under the law, according to filings with state regulators.
These and other insurers say Congress’s landmark refashioning of U.S. health coverage, which passed in March after a brutal fight, is causing them to pass on more costs to consumers than Democrats predicted.
The rate increases largely apply to policies for individuals and small businesses and don’t include people covered by a big employer or Medicare.
About 9% of Americans buy coverage through the individual market, according to the Census Bureau, and roughly one-fifth of people who get coverage through their employer work at companies with 50 or fewer employees, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. People in both groups are likely to feel the effects of the proposed increases, even as they see new benefits under the law, such as the elimination of lifetime and certain annual coverage caps.
Many carriers also are seeking additional rate increases that they say they need to cover rising medical costs. As a result, some consumers could face total premium increases of more than 20%.
Flare your nostrils. Wave your gavel. Try to bully them into silence, Chairman Waxman. Dissent must be silenced!
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