At the root of what President Obama, Pelosi, Reid et al, are saying is that they know better how to manage this massive slice of the economy than a properly functioning free market does. By fiat, Obama says that he will eliminate a couple hundred million dollars of waste and fraud, when there is a) nothing stopping him from doing so now and b) no indication that it can even be done. By fiat, Obama says that he will eliminate pre-existing conditions and raise or remove the caps on benefits, when such moves require the insurance providers to RAISE PREMIUMS to cover expected greater liabilities somewhere down the road. The author then says that "The logical solution is to revert to a "robust" public option that would align doctor and hospital payments with Medicare...", ignoring the fact that Medicare payments do not eliminate costs, they merely displace the costs onto the health care provider. Medicare payments often do not cover costs and so the provider must bear the added burden without proper compensation for their work. They have to, in effect, give it away. Fiat governance at work again. By fiat, Obama says that it won't add to the deficit and Pelosi and friends dutifully set about concocting some scheme to show that, knowing all the while that it is against basic mathematics to do so. One cannot add millions of participants to a program without incurring additional costs. And here we are back again back up over the $1 trillion mark for program costs, a number that will only go up if these programs are implemented. Quit trying to tear down and completely redesign a system that on the whole, works well. I am an advocate of the reforms that John Mackey of Whole Foods put forth, and uses successfully. You know, something that has been proven to work, within the existing structure, is worth a good, hard look at, isn't it? And by the way, take a look at all the new taxes that we will be paying to fund this nightmare: Employer Mandate Excise Tax (Page 275): If an employer does not pay 72.5 percent of a single employee’s health premium (65 percent of a family employee), the employer must pay an excise tax equal to 8 percent of average wages. Small employers (measured by payroll size) have smaller payroll tax rates of 0 percent (<$500,000), 2 percent ($500,000-$585,000), 4 percent ($585,000-$670,000), and 6 percent ($670,000-$750,000). Individual Mandate Surtax (Page 296): If an individual fails to obtain qualifying coverage, he must pay an income surtax equal to the lesser of 2.5 percent of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) or the average premium. MAGI adds back in the foreign earned income exclusion and municipal bond interest. Medicine Cabinet Tax (Page 324) Cap on FSAs (Page 325) Increased Additional Tax on Non-Qualified HSA Distributions (Page 326) Denial of Tax Deduction for Employer Health Plans Coordinating with Medicare Part D (Page 327) Surtax on Individuals and Small Businesses (Page 336) Excise Tax on Medical Devices (Page 339)(Yeah, that'll make those wheelchairs cheaper!) Corporate 1099-MISC Information Reporting (Page 344) Delay in Worldwide Allocation of Interest (Page 345) Limitation on Tax Treaty Benefits for Certain Payments (Page 346) Codification of the “Economic Substance Doctrine” (Page 349) Application of “More Likely Than Not” Rule (Page 357) Source:
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