The Truth About Obamacare, Part 2: Freedom to Choose

Did you know that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes Free Choice Vouchers?  I thought the democrats were against vouchers.  Then again they are in favor of "free choice" when it comes to terminating a pregnancy.  I do not think this is about abortion, though.  For the life of me, I can not tell what it is about.  Maybe you can.  If so, then YOU are Smarter Than Congress.
This excerpt is from pages 835-838 of the PPACA (oh, and by the way, judging from the number of typos and misspellings, not only did no one ever read this, they never proofread it either):

SEC. 10108. FREE CHOICE VOUCHERS. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—An offering employer shall provide free 

choice vouchers to each qualified employee of such employer. 

(b) OFFERING EMPLOYER.—For purposes of this section, the 

term ‘‘offering employer’’ means any employer who— 

(1) offers minimum essential coverage to its employees 

consisting of coverage through an eligible employer-sponsored 

plan; and 

(2) pays any portion of the costs of such plan. 

(c) QUALIFIEDEMPLOYEE.—For purposes of this section— 

(1) INGENERAL.—The term ‘‘qualified employee’’ means, 

with respect to any plan year of an offering employer, any em- 

ployee— 

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836 

Sec. 10108 PPACA (Consolidated) 

(A) whose required contribution (as determined under 

section 5000A(e)(1)(B)) for minimum essential coverage 

through an eligible employer-sponsored plan— 

(i) exceeds 8 percent of such employee’s household 

income for the taxable year described in section 

1412(b)(1)(B) which ends with or within in the plan 

year; and 

(ii) does not exceed 9.8 percent of such employee’s 

household income for such taxable year; 

(B) whose household income for such taxable year is 

not greater than 400 percent of the poverty line for a fam- 

ily of the size involved; and 

(C) who does not participate in a health plan offered 

by the offering employer. 

(2) INDEXING.—In the case of any calendar year beginning 

after 2014, the Secretary shall adjust the 8 percent under 

paragraph (1)(A)(i) and 9.8 percent under paragraph (1)(A)(ii) 

for the calendar year to reflect the rate of premium growth be- 

tween the preceding calendar year and 2013 over the rate of 

income growth for such period. 

(d) FREECHOICEVOUCHER.— 

(1) AMOUNT.— 

(A) IN GENERAL.—The amount of any free choice 

voucher provided under subsection (a) shall be equal to the 

monthly portion of the cost of the eligible employer-spon- 

sored plan which would have been paid by the employer if 

the employee were covered under the plan with respect to 

which the employer pays the largest portion of the cost of 

the plan. Such amount shall be equal to the amount the 

employer would pay for an employee with self-only cov- 

erage unless such employee elects family coverage (in 

which case such amount shall be the amount the employer 

would pay for family coverage). 

(B) DETERMINATIONOFCOST.—The cost of any health 

plan shall be determined under the rules similar to the 

rules of section 2204 of the Public Health Service Act, ex- 

cept that such amount shall be adjusted for age and cat- 

egory of enrollment in accordance with regulations estab- 

lished by the Secretary. 

(2) USE OF VOUCHERS.—An Exchange shall credit the 

amount of any free choice voucher provided under subsection 

(a) to the monthly premium of any qualified health plan in the 

Exchange in which the qualified employee is enrolled and the 

offering employer shall pay any amounts so credited to the Ex- 

change. 

(3) PAYMENTOFEXCESS AMOUNTS.—If the amount of the 

free choice voucher exceeds the amount of the premium of the 

qualified health plan in which the qualified employee is en- 

rolled for such month, such excess shall be paid to the em- 

ployee. 

(e) OTHERDEFINITIONS.—Any term used in this section which 

is also used in section 5000A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

shall have the meaning given such term under such section 5000A. 

(f) EXCLUSIONFROMINCOMEFOREMPLOYEE.— 

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837 Sec. 10108 

PPACA (Consolidated) 

(1) INGENERAL.—Part III of subchapter B of chapter 1 of 

the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting 

after section 139C the following new section: 

‘‘SEC. 139D. FREE CHOICE VOUCHERS. 

‘‘Gross income shall not include the amount of any free choice 

voucher provided by an employer under section 10108 of the Pa- 

tient Protection and Affordable Care Act to the extent that the 

amount of such voucher does not exceed the amount paid for a 

qualified health plan (as defined in section 1301 of such Act) by the 

taxpayer.’’. 

(2) CLERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections for part 

III of subchapter B of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by 

inserting after the item relating to section 139C the following 

new item: 

‘‘Sec. 139D. Free choice vouchers.’’. 

(3) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by this sub- 

section shall apply to vouchers provided after December 31, 

2013. 

(g) DEDUCTIONALLOWEDTOEMPLOYER.— 

(1) INGENERAL.—Section 162(a) of the Internal Revenue 

Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following 

new sentence: ‘‘For purposes of paragraph (1), the amount of 

a free choice voucher provided under section 10108 of the Pa- 

tient Protection and Affordable Care Act shall be treated as an 

amount for compensation for personal services actually ren- 

dered.’’. 

(2) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by this sub- 

section shall apply to vouchers provided after December 31, 

2013. 

(h) VOUCHERTAKENINTOACCOUNTINDETERMININGPREMIUM 

CREDIT.— 

(1) øAdded a subparagraph (D) to section 36(c)(2) of the 

IRC, added by section 1401¿ 

(2) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by this sub- 

section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 

31, 2013. 

(i) COORDINATIONWITHEMPLOYERRESPONSIBILITIES.— 

(1) SHAREDRESPONSIBILITYPENALTY.— 

(A) øAdded a paragraph (3) to section 4980H(c) of the 

IRC, added by section 1513¿ 

(B) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by this 

paragraph shall apply to months beginning after December 

31, 2013. 

(2) øAmended section 18B(a)(3) of FLSA, added by section 

1512¿ 

(j) EMPLOYERREPORTING.— 

(1) øAmended section 6056(a) of the IRC, added by section 

1514¿ 

(2) øReplaced subsection (f) of section 6056 of the IRC, 

added by section 1514¿ 

(3) øMade miscellaneous conforming amendments to sec- 

tions 6056 and 6724(d) of the IRC, added by section 1514, as 

well as a table of sections amendment¿ 

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838 

Sec. 10109 PPACA (Consolidated) 

(4) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by this sub- 

section shall apply to periods beginning after December 31, 

2013. 

SEC