Scan Medical Insurance - What do you think of all these new taxes included in the health care reform bill?

What do you think of all these new taxes included in the health care reform bill?

I have the best Congressman, John Campbell. He wrote an article today on just some of the taxes included in the bill (I'll provide a link so you know I'm not making this up). It includes: • A new 3.6% tax on all investment income including capital gains. That means that the capital gains tax rate (including California state tax) will rise to 33.9%. The tax on dividend income will rise from 15% today to 53.7% including California tax. • Additional Medicare tax on self employment income and wages. This removes the current cap on wages subject to this tax and it will effectively move the top income tax rate from 35% to 43.4% within a couple of years. Add in the California tax again and would then be close to a 54% marginal tax rate. I believe that this is the highest of any major industrialized country. But because spending is so high we would still have $1 trillion dollar annual deficits even after this tax. • There is a 2.9% tax on all medical “devices”, which basically means everything used in a doctor’s office or hospital. Including gowns, syringes, and the like. This will increase health care costs for everyone who does not get free government insurance. • The deduction for Medical expenses is currently limited to those expenses that exceed 7.5% or your income. This will be raised to a threshold of 10% of your income. This means that fewer people will get any tax relief from medical expenses they pay for themselves. • There are various taxes on anything a person might do to pay for their own medical expenses. Things like Health Savings Accounts, Cafeteria Plans, and Flexible Savings Accounts are ways for people to save their OWN money for their OWN medical care on a pre-tax basis will be limited and taxed. This is all part of the way that President Obama gets to government run health care by making it illegal or costly to pay for your own care so you have to go to the government. • A 10% tax on tanning services. I call this the “Jersey Shore tax”. This one has to be really upsetting to ‘The Situation’, Snookie, and Pauly D. • A tax on self-insured health plans. This is another penalty on those who try to pay for their own health care. • A new tax on pharmaceutical manufacturers. This will raise the price of drugs for everyone who does not get them from the government for free. • A new tax on “Cadillac” health plans. This is an up to 55% tax on any health insurance that costs over about $800 per month including employee and employer contributions. This tax does not apply if you are a union member or your plan is from AARP or Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. These are major Democratic constituencies and they exempted them. For everyone else, this discourages comprehensive health coverage. Isn’t that what the President says he is trying to achieve? Like most of what the President says, his actions are not even close to his words. • There is a new tax on all 'for-profit' health insurance companies (except for a few favored ones). This will also raise the costs of premiums for everyone not getting free care from the government. • If you don’t buy health insurance (as dictated acceptable by a new federal czar), you will be fined up to 2.5% of your income even if you pay all of your medical expenses yourself. If your company does not provide said health insurance to all employees, the company will be fined up to $2,000 per employee. http://campbell.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2789:march-19-2010-healthcare-tax-increases&catid=38:laptop-report&Itemid=73 61% of Americans (including both Democrats and Republicans) are against the bill, those for it the majority have no idea about the taxes included in it. The 2300 page bill was finally released to Republicans TODAY and will be voted on in less than 48 hours.

Public Comments

I think I don't like copy and paste from republican chain emails.
Great, can't wait till they become law.
Never believe a Republican Congressman. All they ever do is lie.
How's that LSD?
Republicans knew 2 years ago that health care reform would require massive increases in taxes. Democrats are only now getting it, and you pretty much have to beat it over their heads repeatedly before it sinks in. This is what happens when you're so used to other people doing your thinking for you that you forget how go to about it when you're on your own.
I think, as always, that the right will point the finger and laugh at the left for thier stupidity The left wing media will continue to cover for the politicians as best they can. The left wing politicians will duck any interviews The leftists that pushed for supporting the bills will whine and cry when they actually realize what they have done in regards to taxes and rationed care....all the while crying that this isn't the bill they wanted...yet they were all too lazy and dumb to read what was in it before they pushed it. And Obama will still go on TV for his endless campaigning presidency trying to make people love it. I means, lets face it, it doesn't matter what some moron on Y/A says or what thier opinion is, Most of America have read what is in the Senate bill, we know we need Healthcare Reform, but they DON"T want this bill. PERIOD, no debate about it. The left over moron left wing people that want this either haven't read it or are too lazy to think of a better way. Republicans aren't to blame, they wanted in on the process and Obama and Emanuel didn't invite them back in May. Republicans gave the administration thier idea's, but Obama didn't want them. And you wonder why people have been hating on the left wing ? IF the leftists had some reasoning ability, were less selfish, less worried about thier self importance and so quick to pass anything regardless of how it will hurt America...then maybe people wouldn't chastize them as much. The left wing supporters of the Democrat party have become nothing more than smug, one-liner retaliators that put about as much thought into debate as they would to wipe thier butts.
No, that is not true. I don't trust Conservatives when it comes to taxes and American laws.
sweet mercy!! I have tried my whole life to stay off welfare I always felt I could work and live within my means ,they just reduced me to a begger on the street,,THANK GUYS!! I make less than 20thousand a yr still I,m able to take care of myself I,m healthy but if thats true than there is no way I can not afford even the Government plan,christ just shot us poor folks now why don,t you just get it over with!! Still waiting for someone to explain to me how any of this is free!!
Republicans in power move money up to the top, increasing inequality. We've seen inequality increasing ever since Reagan. The result is that the middle class got so poor they started borrowing. When they could no longer borrow they stopped spending and businesses began to fail and lay people off. This bill moves some of the money that's been leeched away from the middle class by Republicans back down to the middle class, increasing equality -- something that's been missing for the last 30 years. That will be good for the people, good for the country, good for our economy, and good for the global economy. Bring it on! ##
Democrats don't care about hidden taxes. They're too stupid to realize that it's actually going to cost everyone more money, not just the rich. They don't make the connection that a shrinking middle class is the result of a ballooning government combined with massive deficit spending and a devalued currency. No, they only sense that times are getting tougher and blame it on profitable corporations and capitalism. They will never be satisfied and will continue to impose ever more foolish laws until they have a fully collapsed Marxist system.
Some of the figures you have presented are actually lower than what is in the most recent incarnation of the legislation.
I personally would like to know why this plan includes the hiring of new IRS agents. This country would be better off with fewer taxes and a much smaller IRS. Of course Dems couldn't reward their voters without that added tax money.
This is what I found. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-george-miller/gop-pushing-hidden-health_b_234259.html http://www.opposingviews.com/i/the-hidden-tax-in-your-health-insurance-bill
This is a list of the taxes that have been suggested to pay for the reform, not all of them will be in the final bill. Last I heard they will use the tax on unearned income for people earning over $200,000, and I think that is a good idea, I have never understood the reason why people who work to earn their money should pay a higher tax rate on their income than people who don't work. I notice that you do not tell us how much federal tax people pay on he wages vs capital gains and dividends and most of us do not live in CA
Granted there is some favoritism and tax hikes here. Too bad the Republicans didn't negotiate when they were asked. I don't believe everything you've written as the Cons are notorious for slipping in fibs with facts. I'd have to see the sources of your claims, an old habit. The 55% tax for high priced insurance for one, what tax is proposed for the insure for profit people? Is this all in the latest bill? I haven't had a chance to read it yet. Tomorrow. The GOP has lied so much I can't believe a word they say starting a generation ago. It sounds to me that you don't believe in your employer providing insurance. Since you are paying for it with part of your compensation why not? It is considered when applying for the job. The employer if he is a good negotiator will convince you it is more expensive than it really is and profit. He could say the health insurance provided adds up to $10k to your bottom line when it may only cost $6k. Shaving $4k off his expenses yearly. Plus the bill will reward the employer with a $3k? bonus for hiring the new employee. It's a very complicated issue but even this week they want to raise the cost of medicine again. Recently, Anthem Blue Cross of California, an insurance company owned by the for-profit company WellPoint, Incorporated, announced that its individual market premiums would rise by as much as 39 percent in the coming months. This shocking increase isn’t unique. Across the country, families have seen their premiums skyrocket in recent years, and experts predict these increases will continue. Sandy Praeger, a leader of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, predicts that we will “see rate increases of 20, 25, 30 percent.”1 These massive increases are disturbing examples of the problems that make reforming our health insurance system more important than ever. Just the injustices corrected and portable insurance is enough reason to pass the bill. It will cost $1.3 Trillion over the next ten years but then we will start to see savings from the re-organization. $1.3 Trillion is what Bush spent on the Iraqi and Afghani wars. There always money for war and killing but never enough to spend on healing. It's no accident you know?
First tax: I'm not a capitalist. My income does not depend on capital gains. Couldn't care less. Second tax: My tax rate won't go up, since I don't make anywhere near what's needed to be stricken with the top tax bracket. I'm normally near the 50K threshold. Screw the fat cats. Moreover, what are the state income tax brackets in California is none of the Federals' business. Third tax: A way to recoup whatever goes to said companies in subsidies. Good idea. Still, it wont' drive prices up, because we'll find a way to hammer them down and make'em stay down. Fourth Tax: Fewer RICH people. Any serious medical expense is likely to exceed 10% of a normal person's income. Again, I care not for the rich. Fifth tax: This is wrong. Though such things are often used as tax havens, so it makes sense they're taxed somewhat. Tanning services: They cause skin cancer. It's a classic sin tax. We already have those on alcohol and tobacco. Self-insured health plans: Encourages collective bargaining of clients with the insurance companies. Good idea, it would drive costs down in the end. Pharmaceutical manufacturers overcharge: If the government doesn't tax them, they can't pay for Medicare and Medicaid's prescriptions. It might drive costs up, but certainly other measures are going to drive costs down. Specifical companies being exempted: This is wrong. However, be aware that those very same companies are probably set for takeover in the short term. Tax on "cadillac plans": Will encourage companies to drive costs down. Why? Because more expensive policies would be unaffordable. (If I was a company I'd rather charge 800 per month, the exact limit, than charging more and 55% of it going to the govt.) Tax on health care providers: It's meant to hurt the industry. While your costs will go up, you will also get subsidized unless you're rich. The mandate: Buy catastrophic-only, cheapest insurance available.
Republican Hypocrisy on the Deficit and Healthcare see: http://mydd.com/users/rdemocrat/posts/republican-hypocrisy-on-the-deficit-and-healthcare