Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Health insurance tax just another conservative attack on the middle class.
And Bob Herbert spells it out for you should you be one of those middle class folk who believe in attacking you own best interests.
Which is exactly what the tax is designed to do.And employers are expected to move their plans to lower cost frauds designed to transfer the risk and expense from the insurance plan, which would cost less, to you. And all that money that businesses save would be given to employees as raises by their benevolent bosses.
The tax would kick in on plans exceeding $23,000 annually for family coverage and $8,500 for individuals, starting in 2013. In the first year it would affect relatively few people in the middle class. But because of the steadily rising costs of health care in the U.S., more and more plans would reach the taxation threshold each year.
Within three years of its implementation, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the tax would apply to nearly 20 percent of all workers with employer-provided health coverage in the country, affecting some 31 million people. Within six years, according to Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation, the tax would reach a fifth of all households earning between $50,000 and $75,000 annually. Those families can hardly be considered very wealthy.
A survey of business executives by Mercer, a human resources consulting firm, found that only 16 percent of respondents said they would convert the savings from a reduction in health benefits into higher wages for employees. Yet proponents of the tax are holding steadfast to the belief that nearly all would do so.So say goodbye to the annual chipping away of benefits in your company health insurance plan, now management can lop off huge portions of what you once received and claim great profits to Wall St to make their options more valuable.
“In the real world, companies cut costs and they pocket the money,” said Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America and a leader of the opposition to the tax. “Executives tell the shareholders: ‘Hey, higher profits without any revenue growth. Great!’ ”
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