◼ The hangovers from New Year's Eve have gone and now millions of Americans are waking up to headaches from Obamacare sticker shock. - NEWSMAX
Middle-class families are finding out the exact cost of the Affordable Care Act to their weekly budget, and they are realizing they have to make cutbacks in their lifestyles to afford higher healthcare insurance premiums, The Week reports.
Calling Obamacare "another sucker punch to the middle class," the report warns that "when the family budget gets hit in the solar plexus, guess what happens to consumer spending and the economy?"
...In California, the Wall Street Journal reported last month that 900,000 people are having their policies canceled because they don't meet the Obamacare requirements. And as some 600,000 of these people are not eligible for subsidies, they will end up paying larger premiums.
In New York, thousands of small businesses are being hammered by the cost of premiums under Obamacare, according to the New York Post.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses, which represents nearly 11,000 business owners across the state, has revealed that not one single member has reported that their healthcare insurance costs are going down.
...Pointing out that consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of the country's gross domestic product, the report warns, "The top 20 percent of earners account for about 40 percent of all spending in the U.S. When you increase the costs of health care and the new taxes associated with Obamacare, you can hear the wallets closing."
