Posted on 06/10/2009 5:12:10 AM PDT by reaganaut1
broad consensus on the contours of legislation to remake the nation’s health care system appeared to be developing among Democratic leaders on Tuesday as three House committee chairmen outlined a bill generally similar to one being written in the Senate.
Democratic leaders in both houses said they would require individuals to carry insurance and employers to help pay for it. But they have yet to decide how to raise the necessary tax revenue.
Leaders in both chambers said they wanted to establish a new public health insurance program, which would compete with private insurers. But they have not settled on the details.
The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, affirmed his desire to begin taxing some employer-provided health benefits, as a way to help pay for coverage of the uninsured.
After slamming the door on that idea last month, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Representative Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of New York, opened the door a crack on Tuesday.
Mr. Rangel said on May 6 that there was “no way” he would support taxing employer-provided health benefits. On Tuesday, he declined to rule out the idea.
Asked whether he would consider taxing employee health benefits, Mr. Rangel said, “There is nothing, no matter how stupid it sounds, that I am rejecting.”
The three House chairmen — Mr. Rangel and Representatives George Miller and Henry A. Waxman, both California Democrats — are drafting a single bill. They summarized the bill on Tuesday at a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus.
Mr. Waxman said the House bill would be named in honor of Representative John D. Dingell, Democrat of Michigan. Since 1957, Mr. Dingell has regularly introduced bills providing for national health insurance.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
they would require individuals to carry insurance...
...and if I don’t , will I be arrested???
Massachusetts has such a mandate, and on your tax return you must provide proof of insurance or pay a substantial penalty.
Republicans Not Needed
Apparently.
No, I believe that you will be fined an amount greater than your voluntary insurance premiums would have been if you had paid them as you were instructed
Definition of a Democrat.
Now that the dims have “all the answers”, how are we going to pay for all of this?
We cant afford it.
They want to pay for it by taxing it...and this is somehow supposed to make it “affordable”...?
Another reason to support the Fair Tax. There is legislation pending in both the House and Senate. The Fair Tax would eliminate the federal income tax and the IRS, replacing revenue with a retail national sales tax on new goods and services. (This is not the same as VAT or flat tax.) The Fair Tax is on consumption, not production. There would be no federal income tax withheld from pay, and no Socialist Security or Medicare taxes withheld from pay. These would be funded from the sales taxes, which would be collected by the States using their existing mechanisms and forwarded to Washington.
With the Fair Tax, about 57,000 pages of IRS code, regulations, forms and instructions go into the trash can. No more federal income tax returns, no capital gains taxes, no taxes on dividends, no AMT, no need for tax accountants and lawyers. And no loopholes. Even foreigners visiting here would help pay our taxes. Illegal immigrants and other crooks would also be paying taxes, unlike today.
The Fair Tax takes away the ability of Congress to manipulate our lives with the tax code. Tell you Congressmoron that he or she must support the Fair Tax, or you won’t vote for the moron.
See www.fairtax.org for details and to sign up.
The are fixing the greatest economy in the world. And look what is happening.
The are going to fix the greatest health care system in the world. Guess what will happen.
The political way: “If it ain’t broke, fix it till it is.”
VAT
After its passed the lifetime bureaucrats will then fill in the "blanks"
It will be a utter disaster, that will take away your privacy and rights passed by a congress that will not even bother to read the damn thing, but will tout it as a great success on the campaign trail.
This will be the end of both small and medium-size businesses and private insurance companies.
Requiring businesses to pay for a government health plan that costs much more than private insurance (but works half as well) then fining those who cannot afford the coverage.... that is nothing but a plan to destroy private enterprise and create dependency on government handouts. The fact that there are people who actually sit down and plan the demise of our country makes me sick to my stomach.
This will shut down small business. Which shuts down plumbers,electricians,HVAC companies.If the skilled worker/business owner/boss of skilled workers- pay checks/business gets anymore taxed we will be in a full depression muchless disaster.
But move along now...all of the illegal aliens will have free health care and they could care less about it.
So this will be called a Dingle (berry) bill... quite fitting.They are destroying our country.
How do they handle illegals, or non-taxpayers?
PayGo or the largest single tax increase on the American people in history?
You're payin' for them sucka / Baraq
PAYGO=VAT
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