The Republican Conference points out that Speaker Pelosi’s Government Takeover of Health Care: Special Interest Groups Get Treats—While the American People Get Tricked.
Many may find the release of House Democrats’ health “reform” legislation the week of Halloween particularly apt, as the legislation includes several “monstrous” provisions likely to wreak havoc on the American people, their jobs, and their health care:
Werewolf of Government-Run Insurance
Count Taxula
Weird Scientists
Frankenstein
A Ghoulish Czar
While Halloween may come and go, many may be concerned that the monsters created in the bill will stay—causing permanent fright for all Americans forced to live under Democrats’ government takeover of health care.
Read about these “monstrous” provisions click here.
In case you missed it, Jack appeared last night on Fox News’ Red Eye to discuss Speaker Pelosi’s inclusion of hate crimes legislation in a bill meant to provide for our troops, a massive program to pay off Taliban, and the possibility of passing Speaker Pelosi’s $1 trillion health care takeover.
As we noted earlier, Speaker Pelosi’s “public” unveiling ceremony on the steps of the Capitol wasn’t quite so public as one would think.
Republican Whip Eric Cantor aptly points out that conventional wisdom would say that the “public” unveiling of the public option on the steps of public property would involve public access. Not so in Washington.
The House’s main revenue source for its health care bill is not indexed for inflation, meaning that more and more people each year would face a tax that is being sold as a levy on millionaires.
However, the earlier version (HR 3200) included annual inflation adjustments designed to make sure that the tax’s reach did not grow as nominal incomes rose each year. The lack of such adjustments in the alternative minimum tax (AMT), which was originally designed to affect only the wealthiest Americans, forces Congress to routinely pass “patches” to prevent the tax from hitting tens of millions with more moderate income.
From CQ’s Richard Rubin: The House’s main revenue source for its health care bill is not indexed for inflation, meaning that more and more people each year would face a tax that is being sold as a levy on millionaires.
It’s a significant change in approach that will help align revenues and costs in the latest version of the bill, but it will invite criticism and comparisons to the alternative minimum tax, which has affected far more people than it was supposed to.
Starting in 2011, the House bill (HR 3962) would impose a 5.4 percent surtax on adjusted gross income above $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for married couples. Because some Democrats expressed concern about the potential effect on small businesses that pay through the individual side of the tax code, the party’s leadership scrapped an earlier plan that would have imposed a smaller surtax on individuals making more than $280,000 and married couples earning above $350,000.
For the full story, click here (NOTE: This is a subscription-based magazine).
Today, Speaker Pelosi stated that the House Democrats’ 1,990 page bill, “meets President Obama’s call to keep the costs under $900 billion over 10 years and it insures 36 million more Americans.” 1
FACT
The non-partisan, independent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) states that the cost of H.R. 3962, the House Democrats’ health care bill, is “a gross total of $1.055 billion.”
The total cost of the Democrats’ bill will skyrocket, exceeding $1.3 trillion, once they properly account for the Medicare physician payment reform provision.
In order to assist Members, staff, and interested parties seeking to read and review the health “reform” legislation (H.R. 3962) introduced by House Democrats, the Republican Conference has compiled a list of important page numbers and provisions in the 1,990-page “Affordable Health Care for America Act:”
Page 94 - Section 202(c) prohibits the sale of private individual health insurance policies, beginning in 2013, forcing individuals to purchase coverage through the federal government
Page 110 - Section 222(e) requires the use of federal dollars to fund abortions through the government-run health plan—and, if the Hyde Amendment were ever not renewed, would require the plan to fund elective abortions
Page 111 - Section 223 establishes a new board of federal bureaucrats (the “Health Benefits Advisory Committee”) to dictate the health plans that all individuals must purchase.
Page 211 - Section 321 establishes a new government-run health plan that, according to non-partisan actuaries at the Lewin Group, would cause as many as 114 million Americans to lose their existing coverage
Page 225 - Section 330 permits—but does not require—Members of Congress to enroll in government-run health care
Page 255 - Section 345 includes language requiring verification of income for individuals wishing to receive federal health care subsidies under the bill—while the bill includes a requirement for applicants to verify their citizenship, it does not include a similar requirement to verify applicants’ identity, thus encouraging identity fraud for undocumented immigrants and others wishing to receive taxpayer-subsidized health benefits
Page 297 - Section 501 imposes a 2.5 percent tax on all individuals who do not purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health insurance - the tax would apply on individuals with incomes under $250,000, thus breaking a central promise of then-Senator Obama’s presidential campaign
Page 313 - Section 512 imposes an 8 percent “tax on jobs” for firms that cannot afford to purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health coverage; according to an analysis by Harvard Professor Kate Baicker, such a tax would place millions “at substantial risk of unemployment”—with minority workers losing their jobs at twice the rate of their white counterparts.
Page 336 - Section 551 imposes additional job-killing taxes, in the form of a half-trillion dollar “surcharge,” more than half of which will hit small businesses; according to a model developed by President Obama’s senior economic advisor, such taxes could cost up to 5.5 million jobs
Page 520 - Section 1161 cuts more than $150 billion from Medicare Advantage plans, potentially jeopardizing millions of seniors’ existing coverage
Page 733 - Section 1401 establishes a new Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research; the bill includes no provisions preventing the government-run health plan from using such research to deny access to life-saving treatments on cost grounds, similar to Britain’s National Health Service, which denies patient treatments costing more than £35,000
Page 1174 - Section 1802(b) includes provisions entitled “TAXES ON CERTAIN INSURANCE POLICIES” to fund comparative effectiveness research, breaking Speaker Pelosi’s promise that “We will not be taxing [health] benefits in any bill that passes the House,” and the President’s promise not to raise taxes on families with incomes under $250,000
Members of Congress and the American people are just beginning to look at Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) 1,990-page government takeover of health care, but it’s already becoming clear just how costly and unsustainable this proposal is. From higher taxes on middle-class families to job-killing mandates on small businesses to cuts in Medicare benefits for seniors, here are 10 facts every American should know about Speaker Pelosi’s 1,990-page government takeover of health care:
RAISES TAXES ON MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES. Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill imposes a range of tax increases on families with income below $250,000, breaking a promise made by President Obama. Tax increases on middle class families include: an individual mandate tax of up to 2.5 percent of income for taxpayers earning as little as $9,350; repeal of a tax break on medicine purchased with funds from an HSA (health savings account); limits to tax relief through FSAs (flexible spending accounts); taxes on medical devices that will inevitably be passed on to consumers; and a new tax on all insurance policies.
MASSIVE CUTS TO MEDICARE BENEFITS FOR SENIORS. Despite grave warnings from CBO, FactCheck.org, and the independent Lewin Group that cuts to Medicare of the magnitude included in Speaker Pelosi’s bill would have a negative impact on seniors’ benefits and choices, Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill stays the course and cuts Medicare by hundreds of billions of dollars.
NO PROTECTIONS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES. Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill claims to exempt small businesses from the steep eight percent ‘pay or play’ employer mandate. The facts tell a different story. Using Census data compiled by the Small Business Administration, this so-called ‘exemption’ hammers small employers with only, on average, 17 or more employees to new taxes and mandates. The outfits affected employ 70 percent of all small business employees, or 42.3 million workers. Adding to the assault on small businesses, the bill does not index the small business “exemption” amounts, meaning more and more small businesses will be ensnared by this job-killing employer mandate each year.
INCREASES THE COST OF HEALTH INSURANCE. Imposing a new $2 billion tax on insurance policies will be passed on to patients in the form of higher premiums. Changes to the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit will, according to estimates by CBO, will raise Medicare Part B premiums by $25 billion and Part D premiums by 20 percent. And imposing an unfunded mandate on the states to pay for the bill’s Medicaid expansion will shift the burden of this expansion on state taxpayers who may experience tax increases to cover the cost.
USES GIMMICKS TO HIDE BUDGET-BUSTING COST, PILES UP DEBT ON FUTURE GENERATIONS. Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill claims to be deficit neutral, but uses budget gimmickry to hide its massive total cost. Working families across America know they cannot simply decide that a bill they get in the mail doesn’t exist, but that’s exactly what congressional Democrats are doing. In order to meet the President’s ‘target’ spending total of $900 billion, Democrats have simply swept costly provisions under the rug, including the $245 billion ‘doc fix.’
IMPOSES JOB-KILLING EMPLOYER MANDATES. Additional taxes on employers and new government mandates that dictate acceptable insurance will place new and crushing burdens on employers. These are burdens that will ultimately fall squarely on the backs of workers in the form of reduced wages, fewer hours or lost employment. CBO agrees that “[e]mployees largely bear the cost of… play-or-pay fees in the form of lower wages.” According to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s largest small business association, an employer mandate of this magnitude will disproportionately impact small businesses, triggering up to 1.6 million lost jobs. Two-thirds of those jobs would be shed by small businesses.
TILTS THE PLAYING FIELD IN FAVOR OF THE GOVERNMENT-RUN INSURANCE COMPANY. Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill promises not to give the government-run plan advantages over private insurers in the market, but the opposite is true. The bill provides billions in start-up funding for the government-run plan, and while it requires the plan to repay the money over time it does not require the plan to pay interest on this “loan.” This interest-free, taxpayer-subsidized loan is potentially worth millions of dollars and tilts the playing field in favor of the government-run plan.
THREATENS CASH-STRAPPED STATES WITH UNFUNDED MANDATES. Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill swells the number of Americans on the government rolls by expanding Medicaid eligibility. Medicaid is financed through a federal-state partnership, but the bill dumps nearly ten percent of the mandated expansion included in the bill onto the states. States, already struggling with fiscal constraints, would be left on the hook for billions of dollars due to this unfunded mandate.
CREATES A NEW MONSTROSITY IN THE TAX CODE. Starting in 2011, Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill imposes a 5.4 percent tax on adjusted gross income above $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for married couples. Yet, the dollar amounts for which the tax kicks in are not indexed for inflation. We’ve seen this horror film before: the Alternative Minimum Tax, another Frankenstein’s monster of the tax code, also wasn’t indexed for inflation and now affects millions of middle class families with incomes below the Democrat’s surtax.
MISSES AN OPPORTUNITY TO CURTAIL JUNK LAWSUITS. Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill misses a critical opportunity to rein in junk lawsuits and costly defensive medicine. The bill includes only a voluntary grant program to deal with the medical liability crisis instead of including real reform, which would produce tens of billions of dollars in savings, improve efficiency in our health care system and reduce costs for patients and providers.
BONUS: Republicans have offered better solutions to lower health care costs and expand access to quality, affordable coverage at a price our nation can afford. Learn more by visiting healthcare.gop.gov.
The policy brief below is a very early analysis completed by the House Republican Conference and is based solely on a review of documents posted by House Democrats. To read the analysis, click below:
The bill is 1,990 pages long and contains the word “shall” 3,425 times (read: this is the government telling you to do something).
There’s a separate 13-page bill to repeal the sustainable growth rate caps on Medicare spending, better known as the “doc fix.” This separate bill will cost more than $200 billion, and is not paid for – breaking Obama’s promise to Congress during his speech. It also means the health “reform” legislation is more than 2,000 pages long.
Page 1515 – Federal government now regulating vending machines, to ensure everyone can see the nutrition labels on items in same before purchasing their food.
The bill omits language in the discussion draft of H.R. 3200 saying that the bureaucracy established to create minimum benefit standards should “ensure that essential benefits coverage does not lead to rationing of health care.” In other words, there’s no clear prohibition on the federal government rationing health care…
The Indian Health Service reauthorization was added to the back of the health care bill. This is an issue for pro-life groups because the Democrats have not been able to move this bill for the past three years, as there were the votes in the Energy and Commerce Committee to add an amendment preventing the Indian Health Service from funding abortions. In other words, it’s another end-run around a vote to ensure federal funds won’t pay for abortion.
It seems that Speaker Pelosi doesn’t like the “public” option that much. From The Washington Times:
House Democrats blocked the public from attending the unveiling ceremony of their health-care bill Thursday morning, allowing only pre-approved visitors whose names appeared on lists to enter the event at the West side of the Capitol.
Republican Whip Eric Cantor’s office even got footage of someone being turned away with a Capitol Police officer informing him that he hadn’t been, “authorized by the Speaker’s office.” To watch the video, click here.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is on track to exceed last year’s fundraising by more than $10 million, thanks in part to the Obama administration’s decision to target the pro-business group, according to the organization’s president.
That’s right. Last night, House members won in their annual football game with the Capitol Police. Roll Call’s got the story and the video below. Jack played on the defense and helped force two interceptions.
