American Healthcare "crisis" coming.

Will the AHA create long lines at the soon to be
opened " Exchanges" ?

Our American Healthcare system is heading into a "crisis" .The U.S. health care system is the most expensive in the world. Americans spend about $8,200 per person on health care annually. Canadians, by contrast, spend about $4,400; and the French, about $4,000. An average hospital stay in the U.S. is about $18,000; in Canada, the Netherlands and Japan, the next priciest countries, comparable costs are $4,000 to $6,000 less. Sure enough when the "Affordable Healthcare Act"  kicks in . We are all going to see perhaps "millions of people" kicked out of their "public health plans that are provided by their employers " . Seems sarcastic , and my be over bearing statement ? Health Care costs have been doubling for Public employees for the last decade . Its becoming harder and harder for collective bargaining or any type of negotiations  to go with a flat rate for their members since pricing of medical benefits is completely out of the hands of most (school districts for example ) other public workers . We as a nation has know for a long time what the driving machine is that is pushing for costs . Most "employers" see the writing on the wall when deductibles have tripled . The AHA ( Obama-care for short) will by 2018 taxing employers and employee benefits . One part of Obamacare that has become newly controversial applies to its taxation of employer-provided health insurance policies that offer extremely valuable benefits. Dubbed the Cadillac tax, this rule doesn't take effect until 2018, but when it does, the impact could be draconian. Let's take a closer look at exactly what the Cadillac tax does and how it could affect you.The way Obamacare will impose the Cadillac tax is deceptively simple. Under the law, if an individual health-insurance policy costs more than $10,200, the employer has to pay a 40% excise tax for any amount above that $10,200 threshold. For family policies, the corresponding threshold is $27,500.Given those high dollar amounts, you might imagine that not many policies would be subject to the Cadillac tax. But initial projections estimated the potential revenue from the Cadillac tax at $137 billion over the next decade, and even though the Congressional Budget Office recently reduced that estimate to $80 billion, that tax corresponds to $200 billion in additional insurance-value above the Cadillac tax thresholds. Moreover, even though the threshold figures are indexed for inflation, rising health care costs that have historically climbed more quickly than the Consumer Price Index could leave an increasing number of employers having to pay the tax.  ** New taxes  hikes already on the books, taking effect in 2013, fall mainly on people who make lots of money and on the health care industry. But about half of Americans benefit from the tax-free status of employer health insurance.Workers pay no income or payroll taxes on what their employer contributes for health insurance, and in most cases on their own share of premiums as well.It's the single biggest tax break the government allows, outstripping the mortgage interest deduction, the deduction for charitable giving and other better-known benefits. If the value of job-based health insurance were taxed like regular income, it would raise nearly $150 billion in 2013, according to congressional estimates. By comparison, wiping away the mortgage interest deduction would bring in only about $90 billion.So we have a very real possibility of prescription costs rising significantly should the ACA be reversed by the Supreme Court; the rising costs of health care as Americans live longer and longer; and the indirect costs associated with giving away care to the uninsured paid for by the insured. Each of these factors will contribute to the coming crisis. Between now and 2018, you'll want to keep a close eye on your insurance coverage. With a growing number of employers making major modifications to their health-insurance plans, you might find yourself bearing an increasing burden of the cost of your health care in the years to come. By the end of the decade you will see long lines of people standing and waiting outside of the new exchanges . Most of them poor "immigrants" , and some if not many of them public employees................. 

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***Obamacare has plenty of far-reaching effects beyond the Cadillac tax. The Motley Fool's new free report "Everything You Need to Know About Obamacare" lets you know how your health insurance, your taxes, and your portfolio will be affected.Click here to read more.The article How Obamacare's Cadillac Tax Will Affect You originally appeared on Fool.com.