Thinking about the national political scene, entitlement-mentality comments made by Rush Limbaugh come to mind. He said that 9/11 World Trade Center victims’ families are slated to receive an average of $1,185,000, ranging from $250,000 to $4.7 million. Now victims from the Oklahoma City bombing are seeking similar compensations.

Families of a U.S. soldier killed in action get a $6,000 death benefit (half of which is taxable), $1,750 for burial, $833 monthly for a spouse until remarriage and $211 monthly for each child until age 18. Members of Congress get a life pension after two years in elective office of over $15,000 a month, while a retiring veteran after 20 years of service, say an E-7, gets $1,000 a month for retirement. Please reread this paragraph. 

Now consider a 55-year-old self-employed man making between $5,000-10,000 a month while his 60-year-old girlfriend working part-time makes $1,500 a month. His cheapest health insurance policy with a $5,000 deductible costs $482 a month. Her exact same policy costs $1. He can upgrade his policy with a low deductible that costs $886 monthly, while she can get the identical policy for $4 monthly. So, he pays $10,632 annually for what she gets for $48.

You can see why this is important. Obamacare is all about enabling, subsidizing and expanding the power base of the political left – the ideologues who will not admit or say forthrightly that this health-care subject is all about political control; that, over time, it capitalizes on that concept of U.S. citizens’ entitlement mentality.

It is not only about insurance issues but also government’s intrusion into health-care delivery via use of tax money. Most hospitals are federally subsidized. With the illegal-immigrant population high and growing, a state like California often has less than 20% U.S. citizens in for treatment, only 24% with any medical insurance whatsoever, and 32% of births to out-of-wedlock mothers. What Obamacare promises is an increase in health-care spending paid by U.S. taxpayers, rising from $1.4 trillion annually to $4.1 trillion in the near term. 

Firms whose leaders read this journal are probably among the most vulnerable in the American business sector to the problems mentioned here. Do not be fooled by talk from the likes of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. His vague “solutions” just increase cost and reduce choices while simply citing his approach as a single-payer system. And the entirety of the Republican establishment and candidate block has not defined any viable alternative.

There are marginal expectations that Obamacare will be modified in the next Congress, but it is highly unlikely that this abomination of federal law will be repealed. What is more likely is that three sticking-point matters will suffice for modification: risk-corridor payments, the Cadillac tax and tax credits.

When insurers began exchanges within states, they experienced significant losses when rules changed and companies established too-low rate premiums. When a buying pool of the middle class did not appear, these insurance firms had assured losses in their “risk corridor” and asked for compensation for this inequity of certain loss.

The Cadillac issue imposes a 40% excise tax on higher-end plans. This tax, scheduled for implementation in 2018, was presented under false pretenses by the Administration as paid by employers and insurers and not workers and is really a cost distortion of balance between various policies.

The matter of tax credit involves refundable tax for households that buy health insurance on their own and is an attempt to create equity for those buying insurance privately and not through an employer. Talk of establishing Health Care Savings Accounts as an alternative to the tax credit could well end employer-sponsored health insurance for tens of millions of Americans.

All of this gets complex and cumbersome, doesn’t it? Knowing government as I do, I guarantee you that it is all intentional.

I am not trying to sell any political philosophy or candidate. What I urge is that you get up in arms before the political establishment forces you to forfeit what was defined so brilliantly for us in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. The bottom line is to urge that you view the coming election cycle as crucial for your personal and family future; your company and how it is manipulated into poor or continued health; and your country.