[StarLord]

The Joint Committee on Taxation just released its analysis of the tax provisions in Reid’s Health Care Bill. It estimates a total of just over $370 billion in higher taxes. Its report is below:

SEE CHART HERE (you will need to enlarge the page there)

Among the bigger items are a tax on medical devices ($19 billion), a tax on insurance providers ($60 billion.) Supporters of the legislation can pretend these taxes will be paid by the apparently-now-evil medical device companies and the already-known-as-evil insurance companies. Of course these taxes will simply be passed onto consumers, making medical devices and insurance a bit more expensive than it otherwise would have been.

Two other large tax hikes fall directly on citizens. The first would limit the amount of medical expenses people can deduct from their taxes, raising just over $15 billion. Far bigger is an increase in the Medicare payroll tax by over $50 billion.

Let’s not forget that taxes are already slatted to go up after next year by several hundred billion dollars. These plans may not be the best way to “jump start” the economy.

http://biggovernment...g+Government%29

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Am I reading this correctly? Are they going to lower the Tax Boom and it's going to hit us in 2010 and 2011 and we'll be paying even MORE TAXES to "Jump Start" the economy???

[MajorUrsaNorte]

None of it means anything anymore. The dream has gone so far down the rabbit hole that we will never see it again. Very soon, the government is going to learn that you can't get blood out of a stone, but the stone can get plenty of blood out of a politician.

[Cary]

MajorUrsaNorte, on 19 November 2009 - 06:39 PM, said:

None of it means anything anymore. The dream has gone so far down the rabbit hole that we will never see it again. Very soon, the government is going to learn that you can't get blood out of a stone, but the stone can get plenty of blood out of a politician.

A-fuckin-men, MuN. That's the second "hallelujah" you've gotten out of me today.

[MajorUrsaNorte]

Well, don't think I take them lightly either. Those are damned hard to come by. Thanks.

[RunsWithCrayons]

Reid just announced two days ago that he's finally gotten the votes needed for this whole mess to pass in the Senate. We'll see.

[RunsWithCrayons]

Obama: U.S. 'on cusp' of health care reform

Sen. Nelson from Nebraska to give measure 60th, decisive vote

Quote

updated 9 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama says he thinks the U.S. is "on the cusp of making health care reform a reality."

Obama spoke at the White House on Saturday not long after Senate Democratic leaders secured the support of Nebraska's Ben Nelson to provide the 60th and deciding vote for health care legislation.

The president said that "it now appears the American people will have the vote they deserve" on this important issue. He called Saturday's development a major step forward in extending coverage to the uninsured and saving money for businesses and the government in the long term.

Obama also said that overhauling the nation's health care system will save lives.

Decisive voice
Nelson, D-Neb., said he made his decision after winning fresh concessions to limit the availability of abortions in insurance sold in newly created exchanges, as well as tens of million in federal Medicaid funds for his home state.

"I know this is hard for some of my colleagues to accept and I appreciate their right to disagree," he said at a news conference in the Capitol, referring to the abortion issue. "But I would not have voted for this bill without these provisions."

He also noted he had successfully fended off attempts to provide for a government-run insurance option to compete with private insurers.

One Democratic official said an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office to be released later Saturday would estimate a deficit savings of more than $130 billion over 10 years, and the possibility of much more in the subsequent decade.

Forecasters said the bill would expand coverage to roughly 94 percent of eligible Americans under age 65, a total that excludes illegal immigrants. The official who described the conclusions spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he lacked authorization to pre-empt the release of the report.

'Legislative train wreck'
With Nelson's decision, Obama's Senate allies appear on track to pass the legislation by Christmas, overcoming unanimous Republican opposition and a swirling early winter snowstorm.

"This bill is a legislative train wreck of historic proportions," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said. He said it includes cuts to Medicare, home health care and hospices as well as "massive tax increases" at a time of double-digit unemployment.

At its core, the measure is designed to spread coverage to tens of millions who lack it, while banning insurance company practices such as denial of coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions. The White House also wants the legislation that eventually makes it through Congress to slow the rate of growth in national medical spending overall. The House passed its version of the legislation last month, and final compromise talks are expected quickly.

Nelson disclosed his decision as Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., unveiled a final series of changes designed to solidify support.

The legislation includes new limits designed to limit insurance company profits and overhead, by requiring them to spend 80 percent of their premium income on medical care for individual insurance policies, and 85 percent for group policies. The industry says such a limitation is unnecessary because profits generally are in the single digits.

The estimated 30 million Americans purchasing coverage through new insurance exchanges would have the option of signing up for national plans overseen by the same office that manages health coverage for federal employees and members of Congress. Those plans would be privately owned, but operated on a nonprofit basis, as many Blue Cross Blue Shield plans are now.

The option amounts to a consolation prize for liberals, who failed to include a government-run alternative.

Additionally, insurance companies would be barred immediately from denying coverage to children because of a pre-existing health condition. The prohibition on denial of coverage for adults would not take effect in the Senate bill until 2014, a disappointment for consumer advocates.

On abortion, the measure would let a state disallow coverage in new insurance exchanges by passing a law to that effect. Additionally, it sets up a mechanism to segregate funds that would be used to pay for abortions from federal subsidy dollars flowing to health plans.

Federal law now prohibits public money for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. From the beginning, the issue has been how those restrictions would be applied to a new stream of federal money under the overhaul bill.

The developments occurred as Republicans dug in to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. They objected when Reid sought permission for Nelson to announce his decision in a speech on the Senate floor, then forced Senate clerks to spend hours reading aloud the text of the 383-page package of changes.

This post has been edited by RunsWithCrayons: 19 December 2009 - 07:45 PM

[malo]

I still love Nancy Pelosi's comment, "You'll have to pass this bill to see what's in it."

Someone already "passed" the bill.
That's how it was created.
In the physiological sense anyway....