Given the fact that hardly anybody knows what all is in the 2,000-plus pages of ObamaCare socialized medicine legislation, we can expect some “surprises” to keep popping up from the law over the next few years.
One surprise that has already surfaced is a requirement that roughly 200,000 restaurants across the United States change their menu boards, as well as their hand-held and drive-through menus, by posting extensive calorie-count information on them. The requirement will unconstitutionally wipe out state laws and city ordinances on such matters.
The rule assumes that consumers do not realize there is a difference in calories between, say, a large cheeseburger and a cup of yogurt. That is a faulty assumption. Nutrition information is widespread, and it is not ignorance of the dangers of greasy, fattening foods that spurs consumers to eat them. Rather, they find them enjoyable, whether or not those foods promote good health.
The regulation of menus is an unfunded mandate. Restaurants will not get government funding to implement the extensive menu changes. That means the restaurants must absorb the cost in other ways: They will pass the cost along to their patrons, lay off employees or perhaps both.
So Congress is imposing what amounts to a new tax, which is likely to harm the bottom line of restaurants, consumers and workers – with no guarantee that it will slim anybody’s waistline.
How many more such “surprises” will ObamaCare bring?