Dems planning to ditch income tax increase on wealthy to help pay for health care reform

[cali]

AP sources: Health tax on high-earners may be out
Associated Press Writer / January 12, 2010


WASHINGTON—Democratic officials say House and Senate negotiators working with the White House on a health care bill appear likely to drop a proposed income tax increase on high-wage earners. They also may jettison a requirement for large corporations to offer coverage to their employees.


These officials also said that key lawmakers and the White House were hoping to include more money to protect state governments from the cost of an expansion of Medicaid.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.

The developments came as the pace of negotiations on health care legislation quickened. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were scheduled to meet with Obama at the White House Wednesday.

http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2010/01/12/ap_sources_obama_may_back_some_house_health_goals/

Edited to post a clearer op title.

[kenny blankenship]

1. this is not the Cadillac Plan tax - or is it?

Not sure why I'm even curious about this fiasco anymore, but...

[cali]

2. no, it's not. and this is just disgusting if true.

[highplainsdem]

4. It's also political suicide for the Democrats backing this, if it's true.

[cali]

5. this just makes my head hurt

it's beyond repulsive that they're doing this.

[amborin]

11. taxing those making 500K yearly has been dropped in favor of taxing workers n/t

[cali]

14. they better not do this.

[amborin]

23. more mistakes here:

The Democrats are irresponsibly and disingenuously claiming that the bill would cost $871 billion over 10 years. But that’s not what the CBO says. Rather, the CBO says that $871 billion would be the costs from 2010 to 2019 for expansions in insurance coverage alone. But less than 2 percent of those “10-year costs” would kick in before the fifth year of that span. In its real first 10 years (2014 to 2023), the CBO says that the bill would cost $1.8 trillion — for insurance coverage expansions alone. Other parts of the bill would cost approximately $700 billion more, bringing the bill’s full 10-year tab to approximately $2.5 trillion — according to the CBO.

In those real first 10 years (2014 to 2023), Americans would have to pay over $1 trillion in additional taxes, over $1 trillion would be siphoned out of Medicare (over $200 billion out of Medicare Advantage alone) and spent on Obamacare, and deficits would rise by over $200 billion. They would rise, that is, unless Congress follows through on the bill’s pledge to cut doctors’ payments under Medicare by 21 percent next year and never raise them back up — which would reduce doctors’ enthusiasm for seeing Medicare patients dramatically.

And what would Americans get in return for this staggering sum? Well, the CBO says that health care premiums would rise, and the Chief Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says that the percentage of the Gross Domestic Product spent on health care would rise from 17 percent today to 21 percent by the end of 2019. Nationwide health care costs would be $234 billion higher than under current law. How’s that for “reform”?

http://www.swampreport.com/politics/the-cbo-tells-the-truth-about-obamacare-dems-voted-in-in-the-middle-of-the-night/

and......

Mayo clinic in Arizona cannot afford to accept some Medicare payments:

DoctoRx was puzzled by a report in Bloomberg that the Mayo Clinic in Glendale, Arizona will “stop treating” certain Medicare patients. Many readers no doubt know that Mayo is touted not just as a model for high quality of delivery of health care services, but also affordability.

Here is the gist of the story:

More than 3,000 patients eligible for Medicare, the government’s largest health-insurance program, will be forced to pay cash if they want to continue seeing their doctors at a Mayo family clinic in Glendale, northwest of Phoenix, said Michael Yardley, a Mayo spokesman. The decision, which Yardley called a two-year pilot project, won’t affect other Mayo facilities in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota….

Mayo’s hospital and four clinics in Arizona, including the Glendale facility, lost $120 million on Medicare patients last year, Yardley said. The program’s payments cover about 50 percent of the cost of treating elderly primary-care patients at the Glendale clinic, he said.

“We firmly believe that Medicare needs to be reformed,” Yardley said in a Dec. 23 e-mail. “It has been true for many years that Medicare payments no longer reflect the increasing cost of providing services for patients.”

Mayo will assess the financial effect of the decision in Glendale to drop Medicare patients “to see if it could have implications beyond Arizona,” he said.

It seems the Mayo move may be a shot over the bow relative to expected Medicare reimbursement cuts:

Nationwide, doctors made about 20 percent less for treating Medicare patients than they did caring for privately insured patients in 2007, a payment gap that has remained stable during the last decade, according to a March report by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, a panel that advises Congress on Medicare issues. Congress last week postponed for two months a 21.5 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements for doctors.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/category/health-care

[laughingliberal]

29. Yes, and dropping the employer mandate to boot. Gotta take care of bidness. nt

[chimpymustgo]

19. This has been the plan since they went into "conference" and indicated the Senate bill would be the

basis for negotiations. Ergo - taxing "Cadillac" plans IN. Taxing fat cats OUT.

[highplainsdem]

3. This means they'll tax the "Cadillac" (including union) health plans instead of the wealthy.

Unless they come up with some alternative.

The unions will not consider this acceptable, and they shouldn't.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. they need to raise income tax for the super rich

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

6. The senate bill is THE bill

There's no way around it. Every one of 60 senators has veto authority on this thing so there will not be much in the way of "good" changes.

(Unless there is something "good" the senate left out even though all the senate blue dogs would have supported it.)

The Senate bill was always going to be THE bill. Repeat 100 times.

Will prevent future shocks.

[anonymous171]

7. Union health tax = good. Tax on rich = bad.

Class Warfare in action.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. a high income tax on high earners especially those claiming big bonuses

it's called distribtion of wealth. I don't mind if they have to sell one of their yachts?

[depakid]

10. "new" Democrats seem constitutionally incapable of populism- or enacting responsible

(and popular) policies.

It will once again be their political demise- as it has so often been in the past 18 years.

And they will deserve it- just as they have in the past.

[whathehell]

22. Yes..."new" democrats seem synonymous with "no" democrats

[Union Yes]

12. This brand of so-called HC reform is dead to me. As is nearly the entire Democratic Party.

knr for the heads up.

[whathehell]

21. K & R.

[slipslidingaway]

13. knr - now kill the individual mandate or make it improved Medicare for All. n/t

[tavalon]

15. Democrats not supporting the people is beginning to seem like water being wet

[rateyes]

16. This is absolutely mind-numbingly disgusting.

I should have voted for Hillary. I am not going to make the mistake of believing in the product that we are being sold by presidential candidates.

Change we can believe in! Bullshit.

[inna]

17. Not surprising at all, given that Obama expressed his support for the Senate plan at the expense of

the House plan.

Pretty disgusting, especially considering that this is exactly the opposite of what he campaigned on.

[bvar22]

20. All according to the plan, my pretties.

...All according to plan.....
NOW, let fly the Winged Monkeys to tell America why this is just peachy for the Working Class.

[branders seine]

18. I think they should mandate that working class families should

pay for the health care of the wealthy.

That's about the only extreme they haven't yet tried.

Scum.

[and-justice-for-all]

24. How pathetic and sad...nt

[varelse]

25. Explains why the talks could not be televised, doesn't it?

We had to know that wasn't a good sign. This isn't going to be one of the Administration's triumphs even if a law is eventually passed. It is looking more like a liability with each development.

[amborin]

27. more very damning analysis here:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/category/health-care

[Tim01]

26. Mother fucking lying, backstabbing pieces of shit. n

[laughingliberal]

28. Why don't they just send Rahm out to announce the President considers the base a bother and is

considering a run for the White House in 2012 as a Republican. I'm not sure there's much else they could do to let us know we're not wanted.

[Mithreal]

30. Would they accept him as a candidate?