Nothing to see here, move along.

So, the historic health care legislation has passed and it was so important to get it done because it is just so damned historic. We’ve removed this health care blight from our society with this historic legislation and we’ve done it in such a historic way…. historic.

So… what do we have? No one is really sure yet of all of the consequences, but here is what I’ve read over the last few weeks (sorry for not having sources for a lot of this).

• We were promised that college students could be covered by their parents plan until age 26, immediately. This is not actually enforced for a minimum of 6 mo. from signing.
• We were promised that underprivileged children whose parents could not afford insurance would have immediate access to coverage. This is also not enforced for a minimum of 6 mo. from signing.
• We were promised that health insurance premiums would drop by double digits. In fact, the CBO predicts that non-group premiums will rise and average group premiums will stay the same
• We were promised huge changes in the operations of Medicare and Medicaid to reduce costs and those that are uninsured would be made eligible for these systems. Nearly $500B in taxes and fees do begin in this fiscal year and a $500B cut in Medicare financing will take place (probably) in the next Omnimbus/Federal budget. However, reforms to cut waste and the new eligibility standards don’t take effect until 2013-2014.

Now that the bill is passed and private industry can see its language, we’re also seeing unintended side effects of this bill. AT&T reports nearly $1B in annual costs will be added to their budget and has said they are in the process of reviewing their domestic health care plans for current and retired employees. Caterpillar reports $100M and John Deer $150M in new costs. Given the way businesses should RIGHTFULLY work, what can we expect? 1.) Reduced benefits to employees, 2.) given the enormous new burden on companies, probably lower wages or at a minimum stagnant raises (i.e. significantly less than inflation), 3.) increased costs to consumers to help absorb costs. Congratulation Barac Obama, Nancy Pilosi and Harry Reid! You’ve just screwed the middle class!