The Baucus healthcare bill provides for a tax on “gold-plated” health insurance policies. But, as with the Alternative Minimum Tax, once slated to be imposed only on the wealthy, inflation will make most Americans liable to pay the 40 percent tax in a few years.
The tax applies to all individual policies with premiums above $8,750 and families of four whose premiums exceed $23,000. But the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the average health insurance premium for families of four will reach $25,000 by 2018. The average premium should pass the thresholds in Baucus’s bill by 2016.
So, a few years after the bill takes effect in 2013, the health insurance premium tax will become virtually universal. And this tax is to be a 40 percent levy. So, in six years, the average family health insurance policy, now projected to cost $25,000, will, in fact, cost $35,000 due to the Obama-Baucus tax!
The Baucus bill tax threshold is, of course, not indexed for medical inflation or even for regular inflation. (Premiums have been rising at 10 percent for a decade and the average family premium now is 109 percent higher than it was 10 years ago.)
Will Congress act, in the future, to index the health insurance premium tax so it does not reach down to the average American’s policies? Not very likely. As costs rise under ObamaCare (as they have in Massachusetts, where they have more than doubled in two years), the pressure for increased revenue will dictate that Congress let the tax grow and expand its reach until it is a universal tax that pays for universal care.
Until now, the Obama plan has not meant much for the average American who now has insurance. While scarcity of doctors and medical care is a likely result, the harm was largely confined to the elderly, who will bear the brunt of the rationing. But now, the Baucus bill shows that the real story is quite different. In a few years’ time, most families will find their health insurance premiums 40 percent higher because of the new tax. Far from cutting the cost of health insurance, the bill will send it through the roof!
To fight this bill, please go to DickMorris.com and click on the link to donate funds to run ads in key swing states (like Maine) to stop this iniquitous piece of legislation.
 |
Comments
Only subscribers to Dick Morris' '08 Play-By-Play may post comments. You must be logged in to post a comment.
[…] (more…) […]
[…] via OBAMA’S HEALTH INSURANCE TAX: COMING SOON TO ALL POLICIES at DickMorris.com. […]
Dick,
I just wanted to thank you for all your hard work and diligence in fighting Obama’s radical agenda. You have been a great inspiration to me and I’m sure to other Americans fighting the radicalism that grips our country.
Dick,
You might want to comment on the intimidation tactics Obama is engaging in toward health insurance companies who disagree with aspects of Obama’s plan. Humana isn’t the only health insurance carrier to be threatened. Basically all Medicare Advantage insurance companies(which is a sizeable number) received a threatening memorandum from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ordering insurance companies to discontinue any communications criticizing proposed cuts in Medicare Advantage programs. I know this to be true because I have a copy of the memorandum(which I think also might be publicly available).
If there was 500 billion in waste in Medicare as stated by Obama, then why has that not been ferreted out prior to now. Every program will have waste but not at that level - major stuff can be caught by audits, however, catching everything would require an army of folks.
Perhaps someone needs to look more into the whereabouts of Tom Dashle. He states in his book Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis that most of the costs are for end of life procedures and Daschle says Medicare should pay more for care that leads to good outcomes, and should stop paying for unnecessary or harmful treatments. Rationing?
Perhaps the most striking part of Daschle’s plan is his call to create a Federal Health Board, modeled on the Federal Reserve Board that manages monetary policy. The basic idea is to create an institution, run by experts, that answers to the government but is “largely insulated from the politics and passions of the moment,” he writes. Perhaps most importantly, the Board would assess the effectiveness and costs of various treatments. This sure sounds a lot like what the current health care bill has as part of its text and is analogous to the single payer programs in England and Canada.
Kind of interesting with all the other problems facing this country (e.g., Afhanistan, Iran, high unemployement,etc.) Obama makes health care a priority. Looks like he wants a monument to himself much like FDR and Social Security.
This will hit older Americans immediately. People in the 59 to 64 age band, to young for Medicare, pay premiums in that range. In reality you are increasing their premiums by 40%, that will make them really happy.
[…] (more…) […]
[…] of those plans, the bill would impose a massive 40% tax on “gold-plated” plans-which turn out to include the health-insurance plans of many in the middle class. So that drives up the cost of […]
[…] all the ammunition to fight that war is contained in the Baucus bill. On a related note, read Obama’s Health Insurance Tax – Coming Soon to All Policies – If you think health care “reform” isn’t going to cost you, think again! […]
Anatomy of an Attack Ad
How Dick Morris Is Making Seniors Feverish About Health Care Reform
Standing in a medical exam room, a neurosurgeon in a white lab coat stares solemnly into the camera and warns that President Obama’s health care plan “will