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It's Official: Americans Spent All Their "Gas Savings" On Obamacare
Last quarter, when we showed what was "The Reason For The "Surge" In Q3 GDP", some were shocked to learn that in the quarter in which US GDP posted a 5% surge, it was none other than Obamacare - a mandatory tax according to the Supreme Court which has the benefit of flowing through the US income statement - which contributed the bulk of this upside.
We are happy, and we use the term loosely, that history has just repeated itself, and now that the final number is available, what we wrote a month ago in "Here Is What Americans Spent Their "Gas Savings" On" has just been confirmed, and as the chart below shows, in the final revision of Q4 GDP, while virtually every other category of household spending was largely unchanged or revised lower, it was Healthcare, of which Obamacare was the biggest contributor on the margin, which saw an unprecedented surge in total spending, from $1.858 trillion to $1.871.9 trillion just between the second and final GDP revisions: a bump of $13.9 billion, without which Q3 GDP would have grown well below 2%!
It gets better, because in the fourth quarter total spending on healthcare in chained-dollars was a whopping $35.3 billion. An all time record!
And the absolute shocker: of the $89.1 billion increase in Q4 GDP in chained-dollars, healthcare was $35.3 billion of that, or 40% of the total.
Yes, healthcare spending accounted for 40% of GDP growth in Q4!
With that we are happy to have unmasked the two great mysteries of the US economy in recent history: the first being why there is no wage growth, which as we showed previously is because all the wage growth was going to the 20% of the workforce that is supervisors and bosses. For everyone else: better luck in a next life where you too get to "supervise."
... and now we have solved the mystery of why US households did not spend all those billions in "dropping gas price" windfalls - the answer is that they did in fact spend all this money.
On Obamacare.
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IT'S THE LAW!
and mericans o b e y
"Death is not so bad .... if you consider .... the alternative !" .... Monedas 1929 Comedy Jihad World Tour
Actually only 37 million so far paying premiums for ObamaCare. Eventually the consumer is going to decide what health costs should be or they will ALL just go to the emergency room and damned preventative medicine. That's the beauty of ObamaCare. Things couldn't keep going like they were and the FIX needs a bunch of work. If Congress could just get buy being bought off and do something for the American People just because they could it wouldn't have to be the Giant FUBAR we have now. At this point for me it would not make any difference if ObamaCare got trashed. Things are so fucked up on so many other levels that the added chaos of no plan after repealing ObamaCare will hardly be noticed.
My savings on gas + a shit ton more went to increased healthcare costs. The sad thing is because my deductibles are so high, i'm probably never going to use it. Healthcare costs suck major dong if you have crappy policy...sure..if you are goverment worker you probably still have good (cheap) coverage...but the working stiffs are getting healthcare costs shoved right up our assholes...
Since Ocare is subsidized at lower income levels (as measured by one's 1040) they did the IRS no favors by throwing this on it's plate while it is forced to shrink headcount and services.
My tax preparer went to a $250. a head seminar on how to do ObamaCare paperwork. He said he knew more than the speaker on several things. He said the tax prep is a nightmare and NO preparer knows if they are doing it right when they send it in.
Zero Hedgers steadfastly refuse to admit that lower gas prices are beneficial. Tsk-tsk....
You silly geese!
Yes we have stated this on ZH. I have never given up my gas guzzling cars that hit 7 - 10 MPG city driving. Nor will buy a government subsidized clown car with a rebate escalating to $7,000. I also promoted buying a new BMW to take advantage of currency exchange rate.
BMW M5 video reviewhttp://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pmIaJE1TVCA
Any other questions?
"Any other questions?"
Sorry Bob, I had no questions.
Obamacare is just one of the many overreaches committed by the elitists and their crony corporations that will eventually corrode the concept of central authority. The people will finally lose their taste for having a mommy and daddy cradle to grave them into slavery.
In the end all of this is a net positive.
America setting records!
I used my on Beer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAljDNzlMIc
Health Care Bubble, bitchez! No one could have seen it coming.
Late to the party,..religious/conscience exemption IRS section 1402g + the Bernanke hardship.
Fuck Karl Denninger chump ass forum operator.
I used to be Billy Ray Valentine on there.
Saw a few names here from gerflickter forum
My old insurance premium for my family was $1350 a month with $325 paid directly by me. The new insurance premium through my company is now $3200 a month with my contribution up to $985. AND the new insurance plan has a $12000 deductible, $40 copay and $30/$50/$70 prescription. Old one was $5000, $20 copay, $10/$20/$40. AWESOME!!!!!!!
SO right now I don't have insurance because if I pay almost $1000 a month for medical insurance, I'd be fucked. After other mandatory expenses I'd have about $900 to live on every month for a family of three. Oh yeah I could go on the exchange and get one of the silver plans for $1300 a month, but the plan is worse than what my employer offers and I'd be paying even more a month.
The new America where having a good job where you make over the income limits for all government assistance means you are dirt ass poor. If you go to the hospital, quit your job so you'll be on medicaid. Being bankrupted because you work for a living isn't worth it.
And what don't you "get" about communism? They have been working towards a complete dependency on government since Lyndon Johnson started the "Great Society." The Goal is what psychologists call "learned helplessness." That means you stop trying because you learn there is absolutely no point. Want to start a business in America? Good luck with that. The bleed of various, endless taxes and licenses required will ensure you never get up and running.
The Clinton's are the ultimate communists; sell anything to anyone. Bill Clinton sold our super computers to the Chinese. Now Oboma wants to sell nuclear to Iran, who Every Single Day (if they get it) will be screaming they are going to nuke us. Ya want that legacy for your children.
First rule of America should be one rule: We rule, kiss our grits.
I'm still waiting to see if CMS re-runs the big risk fiddler algorithm as they have stated they would too...for over 5 years insurers used an automated risk fiddler formula with Medicare Advantage and scooped up an addition $70 billions from Medicare. They have never done anything like this before but under current leadership, Andy Slavitt, a former United Healthcare executive, who did these types of algorithm runs for profit with the UHC subsidiary, Ingenix, he knows the drill and is a former Goldman Sachs banker, so that's who's running Medicare today.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2015/03/cms-to-rerun-medicare-advantage-risk.html
You can go back and look at how the AMA sued Ingenix, along with many others on their anti fraud false positives that took money out of doctors and consumers' pockets for over 15 years. So the deal now is, will he do this same type of algorithmic run for the government and collect millions or even billions from his former company, United Healthcare and others that made him very rich:)
Major news is kind of shying away from this story but I think it's a big deal if insurers get away with $70 billion in risk fiddler fraud with as hard as Medicare come down on hospitals and doctors, nobody does it better than insures when it comes to fraud as they know all the numbers and math formulas:) By the way too, United sells anti fraud software and analytics all over the place, example here with SAP. They have their fingers in everything.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/12/sas-adds-optum-unitedhealthcare-fraud.html
BTW,...we gassed some folks(spirit of the ZH meme).
If I hear p o t u s say that word folks again I might send someone looking in his direction.To have him beg to his god the before the ultimate chimp out.Pity I am 1700 miles away.SS Cunts will be at my door any minute now.
Funny how we have departments of .gov that use the same initials as the GD third reich.
1) I am still waiting for that $2,500 savings on my health care insurance.
2) My rates for 2015 jumped $120/per paycheck. Or an increase of $3,120 per year.
If there is a single Obama voter on this website, or a person that voted for any Democrat, just get out your fucking checkbook and make me out a check for $5,620. That's for 2015.
Be prepared to do the same every year until I die of old age.
Fuck Obamacare and every Democratic politician that voted for it. And fuck every person that voted Obama into office.
March on Washington? Only if you bring gasoline and matches. Save the founding documents and burn the rest to the ground.
Our fucking fudge-packing, Muslim fascist dope addled Manchurian candidate has done a great job so far. I foresee a police state with army and nationalized police in place by January, 2017!
I cannot believe our luck in getting a homosexual negro communist and tranny first dick as POTUS and FTOTUS!
***
Bill Ayers: What do I do with this woody, Barrie?
Bring it here, baby!
You don't have to buy insurance. Just pay the small IRS fee and go bankrupt when you get that $200,000 medical bill in the mail. You do have choices.
Exactly. Leave the country for medical care and pay in cash or gold.
US "Health Care" is nothing but a bunch of quacks tapping away at their tablets, worthless turds all.
I would trust a competent country veterinarian who can still use his or her brain over any MD or DO in the USA.
Weird stuff already happening to my web,...
Good grief what do I do.
The fucking jackboot thugs work quick.
If they aint watching porn in HD onfuckin fiber +our dime.
Its me now you are next.
our
I'd like to see TAXES paid in a chart like this
source code stated BOGUS
well and all that
The reason is that more people are switching to HSA/HDHP plans from traditional POS plans. This is just a transfer of cost from employer to employee with the employer kicking in a chunk of the cost with pre tax contributions. Something that used to be directly noted in the employers books are now considered as "costs" for consumers. It's just a misleading comparison with prior years.
ObumbleCare has already cost me 6,000+, because of dumbass Obamaphiles like you.
i LOVE THE WORD FUCK my recently decesed financee would have against it.
nothing more pewefull than GO FUCK YOURSELVES
Did Lenny Bruce invent that?,...
More of a George Carlin beleiver
I will never vote for a Democratic party candidate again.
When 60 Dems signed apledge they wouldn't vote for a bill withoutt a public option. When it looked like the Senate had a chance to get to 60 for Medicare for all...
Pelousy, Obama And Reid made sure the last minute vote would take place for Obamacare without a public option
Those 60 Progs all voted for the "let's vote it in and read it later"
I vowed never again for any reason for any candidate local, federal or presidential would I ever vote for another Democrat
That party needs to go the way of the Whigs
well, I mean - at least when Hillary gets in things will improve.
More transparency, too, and I'm assuming a renewed ME peace process, and some sort of rapprochement with Russia.
That ACA website costs more to administer than health care insurance.
/hahahahaha
ACA, just one small step towards Full Soviet, Comrades!
So the O drove gas prices down just so folks would have enough money to by his failed health program. Imagine the reaction of the folks and political fallout if gas was still $3.90 a gallon and they still had to find cash to pay for this thrid rate O healthcare.
I'm sorry, Mr Smith, but that broken leg puts you on the death panel list.
What!?! Tyrone Shaquan over there has a broken leg! He had surgery.
Tyrone is a misguided dope dealer. You are, well, an Anglo. This shot will calm you down.
at least we got to keep our doctors
Socialism is awesome! In 2014 I made $16,500 (my wife earned $0), one of our kids got ~$30,000 worth of health care through Medicaid, I paid zero insurance premiums, zero estimated taxes, zero FICA, and now I'm getting a $5660 refund!
My total tax rate is -34%, and my marginal rate is +0.2% -- for every $500 added to my income, my refund drops by $1. My property tax is about $50/month, and my state has no sales tax. I make my own wine and don't smoke, so no taxes there either.
I'm exempt from the Obamacare penalty because I would have qualified for Medicaid if my state had agreed to the PPACA's Medicaid expansion. Fortunately, I didn't get sick.
I guess I should thank all those good tax-paying Stakhanovites who work 80-hour weeks so their ex-wives can have a nice house to entertain their dirtbag boyfriends.
What you just explained is called American Capitalism.
Such life don't exist in any socialist states around the world.
So true. The reality in America is that unless you can make more than $300,000 and have a LOT of biz tax deductions on that amount, it doesn't pay to work in America. All that free stuff; it's amazing!
But ya know, what no one in this country talks about is that people did use to work; watch The Grapes of Wrath. People worked because they didn't eat unless they worked. Now people don't work because if they work they get less.
+rep for the Stakhanov reference. Very impressive.
Obamacare might get cheaper after the Death Panel kick in to weed out those who will cost the system too much, or maybe it won't, they'll just pocket the extra profits from the carnage.
If there ain't no empathy for victims of US Imperialism, why should there be for American citizens? It's all the same Corporates running the show.
1. As a supervisor or boss, make everything unnecessary complex
2. Demand higher pay because you have to somehow manage all that crazy complexity
3. Profit!
A whole lot better on having insurance than gas.
Obamacare is doing exactly what it's supposed to; delivering more healthcare to more people...
Define "healthcare" ans be sure to include deductibles, premiums in your analysis ..... feckin idjit.
It's delivering more socialistic grief to more people....
It is not delivering healthcare. It is enforced insurance. Still have to meet your deductible each and every year forever and ever amen
Obamadontcare
AND WHERE’S THERE A FUNDING? http://youtu.be/EYa_fhLkg5c?t=10s
As Janet Yellen didn't say once....
A Penny earned is a Penny lost, due to taxs and inflation.
Healthcare? The USSA system is broken. ACA - force everyone into a broken system. What could go wrong?
More proof that we are all politically disenfranchised. No one in Congress represents our interests. Congress is so passive, no spines, no conviction in anything except selling us out for pennies. None of them are fit for office.
LOTUS* deliberately had this bill rammed through Congress. LOTUS* made sure the Supreme Court justices upheld it, too. Or, else…understand?
The entire disgusting political class and all their associates turn my stomach.
*LOTUS—LIAR OF THE UNITED STATES
I still don't understand how spending for government services like obamacare, which are funded by debt or taxes, counts toward GDP. Can someone tell me that?
What gas savings? Check out the recent prices which are seasonally based. Not so cheap any more.
Yes
No
How many of us under 30 here have ever even had health insurance at all? Being on your parents plan does NOT count. Your own policy only. Can you really afford it?
(I had to downvote myself)
Americans are fools for buying into Obama Care or its predecessor.
Why?
There are a few places in Mexico where you can see a doctor without an appointment for $3.50. Let us assume that the average American makes ten times more than a Mexican. That would turn out to be $35 for a doctor's visit in America if all things were equal.
I had surgery down there twice for injury related issues. $2,000 and $110 respectively. I am 63. If I mutliply that out 10 times, that would be $20,000 and $1,100. If I take $21,100 and divide that by 10 years for example, I would be able to get similar surgical work done every ten years for $2,110 year premium. Add in a couple of doctors visits a year and that would total $2,180 per annum. Divide that by 12 and the premium should be no more than $181 a month. In forty years a person would be entitled to eight surgeries and 80 doctors visits.
There are some who need the system more and some less. Since I was born I have seen a doctor less than 15 times, had surgery three times. One was a tonsilectomy as a kid. I would have survived anyway without any of the surgeries, just been more uncomfortable.
That is calculating on the high side. When I hear of people paying over a grand a month for insurance I think to myself, what is the point of it. Leave, go somewhere else to get looked after, pay cash and forget this theft they call Obamacare.
The television show Inside Man, on CNN with Morgan Sherlock, recently had a segment with Sherlock going to Thailand for medical care. One of the points, which floored me, was how much cleaner the hospital and all the people working in it were, than here.
Many don't know that our medical system is now a catchall for the druggie trade; that is, get caught with drugs and you'll be rehabed through one of the "trade" schools that teaches you how to work in the medical system. Great eh? Druggies taking care of you.Or the third worlders are shuttled into the medical system; you'll remember that the Ebola connection in Dallas was directly tied to the low-level medical care system.
Then there is the Fact that more than one-half the doctors in the US are NOT US trained doctors; they have imported endless numbers of foreign docs in order to keep up with the unfettered third world invasion of "immigrants" we don't need nor have asked for. Last three docs I've seen, none of whom spoke decent English. One I couldn't understand at all (Asian).
Good luck, Americans, especially if you are white. Ya think they really care if you live or die?
And what is the biggest benefit of paying for Obamacare..........not getting fined. Fuck the US gov't raw.
As half-assed as Obamacare is, it just might wake people up to how ridiculously expensive health care has become. Those who use it most have their bills paid by someone else, either insurers or the taxpayers. So they aren't SEEING the huge leaps in costs for their drugs and procedures. They don't see the ludicrous charges for routine, mundane items you can buy yourself at a Dollar store for a buck or two. Or all of the administrative 'padding', the fees, taxes and surcharges for this, that and the other.
THEY don't see it, and the guy without insurance ends up not being able to afford it at all so it doesn't matter to HIM in his day to day life, so the costs just keep escalating, allowing more layers of bureaucracy to 'feed'...
It couldn't last, folks. With or without Obama, that system was going DOWN eventually. Obamacare may have simply skipped us ahead a few steps to the inevitable change. If the now-exposed costs force voters to demand action, then it may have saved us all a little time in getting to the solution.
The more the "fixes" end up making things worse, the better I like it. Because 'worse' is the only way any real change is going to happen. Anything that hastens the Fall of Rome, I'm for. If Obamacare causes the health industry to implode, if our military ventures blow up in our faces, if expanding education gives us a trillion dollar debt loan 'bomb'...well then, these things have to be, folks. So many here seem to WANT something new, some change. But then when something DOES happen, they revert to the same old reactionary argumentation to condemn it. They complain about its disruptions, inconveniences, costs...
I think a lot of people want to complain about the system, but are much too afraid of actually CHANGING it to do more than that.
No one who complains about Obamacare ever presents any kind of alternative. And that isn't because they are all just a bunch of Tea Party crazies...it's because there AREN'T any alternatives! THAT'S the reality...Our system sucks, and is not fixable in its present form. Period. The Democrats can't fix it, the Republicans can't fix it, the Libertarians can't fix it...nobody can.
And I'm glad people have started noticing all the fucking CRACKS in the dam...FINALLY!
Eureka! If it took Obamacare to do it, then it's been good for SOMETHING anyway!
This is the "reason" they are so invested in legalizing medical marijuana; you are then so "f'd up" you don't care that your medical care is the only thing you are working for.
By the way, did ya'll get the newest memo on racism from Oboma? He is going to be leaving that dang White House because the Senate has refused to call it the Black House at least six months of the year. After all, since 92% of the soliders in WWII were white, and since without the deliberate treasonous destruction via third world parasitic immigration into the US to let us have a daily lesson on how racist we are, the US would still be 90% white and California, for instance, would not be worried about drought because 20 MILLION people who don't belong there would be in their own third world hell holes. Instead of turning our country into one.
What doesn't the government control now?
"It gets better, because in the fourth quarter total spending on healthcare in chained-dollars was a whopping $35.3 billion. An all time record!"
College education, which is a misnomer, and "Health Care" which is anything BUT, both have had ASTRONOMICAL rises in cost to the consumer. I used to think the people behind this were insane, but now I know better, this is by design. This is PLANNED. And the destruction of the founding stock of this country is their GOAL.
Obama’s Border Surge Invaders—They’re Back!
Phyllis Schlafly: “The Average American…Must Ask Whether Someone Is Trying To Destroy America”
Can't wait to see the Repub's use this in 2016 ads.
The true cost of affordable healthcare
Can't buy a new car, can't buy a house, can't take a vacation because we have to pay our Obamacare premium and deductible at the same time
Why is The Hedge the only place that points out this fallacy
All the presstitutes blather on about is record numbers of newly insured
BFD forced to buy, even if subsidized a product you can't afford to use