[Updates] What?! There’s Yet Another Tax That Average Workers Will End Up Paying For???
By Bronwyn's Harbor on September 16, 2009 at 9:15 PM in Current Affairs
Just how f##king stupid and naive do Barack Obama and Congress think that middle- and lower-class citizens are? Especially Finance Committee chair Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)?
Unless you’ve just fallen off the turnip truck, you learned a long time ago that ANY new business tax will end up being paid for by YOU and ME because health insurance companies will make up for staggering new taxes by:
(1) increasing premiums, upping co-pays and/or deductibles (e.g., the first annual $2,000 instead of $1,000), and/or
(2) cutting back on current benefits — e.g., the number of annual physical therapy sessions, annual doctor visits, and/or annual blood tests, MRIs, x-rays and biopsies, and on and on.
Beyond the 35% surtax on companies that sell “Cadillac” policies, we learned today on Fox News’s Special Report with Bret Baier that the Max Baucus plan will force insurance companies to pay an additional ANNUAL $6 BILLION FLAT “FEE”:
BELOW, you’ll find another video on how average workers will end up paying for the taxes on the insurance companies, and a prominent Democratic U.S. Senator — yes, a Democrat! — describes why the Max Baucus plan is so dangerous for workers, especially workers who are in unions:
This flat tax on 100% of all health insurance companies is in addition to the 35% surtax on companies that sell “Cadillac” policies which, it’s critical to note, include almost all UNION health insurance plans. This 35% surtax isn’t exclusively for plans given to executives. This 35% surtax will be paid by ALL MIDDLE and LOWER-MIDDLE CLASS EMPLOYEES of ANY MAJOR COMPANY that offers good health care plans, no matter how modest the salary of employees, even janitors, cafeteria workers, secretaries, file clerks, and on and on.
The only way that these health care insurance companies can stay afloat — under the weight of these huge new taxes — will be by greatly increasing workers’ out-of-pocket expenses and by greatly reducing the high-quality coverage of the better health insurance plans.
Anyone employed by a major corporation — say, from General Electric to Boeing to NBC to industries that employ workers who are members of unions — will see a dramatic shift in both their annual out-of-pocket payments and in a drastic reduction of services currently covered by the health insurance companies.
There’s no doubt in my mind that we need to get the word out to the middle class citizens of this great country who have to pay more for their health care plans and very likely face cutbacks in the quality of their health care plans.
EVERY ONE OF US must write to our Representative and to our Senators.
UPDATE: From ABC News’s The Note — “Dem Senator Warns of ‘Big, Big Tax’ on Middle Class in Baucus Bill“:
It's not every day that you hear a Democratic senator charge that a fellow Democrat is proposing to raise taxes on the middle class, but that is what happened on Tuesday when Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., ripped into the health-care bill developed by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mt., the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
The Baucus proposal would impose, starting in 2013, a 35 percent excise tax on insurance companies for "high-cost plans" — defined as those above $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for family plans.
[...]
Given how much money this kind of tax can raise, [Senator Jay] Rockefeller says he understands why it is "tempting."
The West Virginia Democrat worries, however, that a lot of middle class workers, like the coal miners in his state, will end up facing "a big, big tax" under the Baucus bill because they currently enjoy generous employer-provided health care benefits which they receive tax free.
Referring to Baucus, Rockefeller said, "He should understand that (his proposal) means that virtually every single coal miner is going to have a big, big tax put on them because the tax will be put on the company and the company will immediately pass it down and lower benefits because they are self insured, most of them, because they are larger. They will pass it down, lower benefits, and probably this will mean higher premiums for coal miners who are getting very good health care benefits for a very good reason. That is, like steelworkers and others, they are doing about the most dangerous job that can be done in America."
"So that’s not really a smart idea," Rockefeller continued. "In fact, it’s a very dangerous idea, and I’m not even sure the coal miners in West Virginia are aware that this is what is waiting if this bill passes."
Rockefeller made his comments on a conference call with reporters which was sponsored by the liberal Campaign for America's Future.
Rockefeller, who sits on the Finance Committee, said that he cannot support the Baucus bill unless it receives major improvements during the amendment process.
[...]
What Jay Rockefeller says here is CRITICAL:
In fact, it’s a very dangerous idea, and I’m not even sure the coal miners in West Virginia are aware that this is what is waiting if this bill passes.
These creative ways of paying for the health care bill are truly dangerous. And it’s frightening to realize that probably most Americans are completely unaware of this dangerous plan.
And here’s a video that is the frosting on the cake (h/t Linda Anselmi and to firedoglake’s YouTube video):
, the basis for the Best Motion Picture Nominee (Golden Globes) starring Brad Pitt.
, the novel by John Le Carre, a new motion picture starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.
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