Venango County Tea Party Patriots

A non-partisan, non-profit, non-member, association dedicated to educating the public and promoting the principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free market economics, and all other lawful activities.

Obamacare

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Raising the Minimum Wage

The plan on the table in Congress would raise the federal minimum wage above $10 an hour (which is higher than all existing state rates). Obamacare’s mandate on employers, however, is already scheduled to raise the hourly cost of hiring a full-time worker past $10 an hour.

The idea behind a minimum wage is to help low-income workers. But Obamacare’s mandates will hurt the job prospects of these very workers—and raising the federal minimum wage would further limit the number of jobs available.

Combining federal (or state) minimum wage rates, payroll taxes, unemployment insurance taxes, and soon Obamacare’s employer mandate, employing a worker full-time will cost a minimum of $10.30 an hour. The government has made hiring more costly without raising workers’ pay.

Unfortunately, this will make entry-level jobs harder to get. And these jobs are important. For the majority, they are stepping stones to higher pay and higher-skilled positions.

Read more.

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Record Number Oppose Obamacare

A record high number of voters now oppose the 2010 Affordable Care Act and a record low number supports it, according to the latest Fox News poll.

In addition, a majority thinks the new law will increase their health care costs, while few think it will improve their quality of care.

The new poll finds 59 percent of voters oppose the health care law, up from 55 percent who opposed it six months ago (June 2013).  The increase in opposition comes from both independents and Democrats.

Nearly a third of Democrats — 30 percent — oppose the law, up from 22 percent in June.

Opposition among independents went from 53 percent to 64 percent today.

Overall, 36 percent of voters favor the new health care law.  That’s down from 40 percent in June and marks a new low.

Sixty-four percent of Democrats, 29 percent of independents and 11 percent of Republicans like the law.

Read more.

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HHS Says More Eligible for Medicaid

The number of people determined to be eligible for low-income health insurance programs grew in the month of December, the halfway point for ObamaCare’s first enrollment period, according to federal health officials.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported Wednesday that more than 6.3 million people were approved to receive either Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) between October and December.

Roughly 2.3 million of these verdicts occurred in December, a 20 percent increase over the previous month, officials said.

HHS used the data to argue that more states ought to expand their Medicaid programs using mostly federal dollars. That expansion was a mandatory part of the Affordable Care Act, but the Supreme Court made it optional.

Read more.