Posted on 07/28/2009 10:34:28 PM PDT by Schnucki
Nose jobs, breast enhancements, tummy tucks and liposuction could be hit with a ten per cent tax to help foot the bill of Barack Obama's $1 trillion overhaul of the health care system.
Max Baucus, the chairman of the senate finance committee which is drawing up one of several versions of a health care reform bill, described the proposed cosmetic surgery tax as "interesting", "creative" and "kind of fun".
Americans last year spent $10.3 billion (£6.3 billion) on 12.1 million operations or procedures to improve their looks or replace the hair on their heads.
Five million doses of wrinkle-reducing Botox were injected at an average cost of $500, while 307,230 women had their breasts enlarged for an average $3,816. Nearly 245,138 people had excess fat sucked out of their body, while 121,653 tummy tucks were performed.
Intended as a tax on the rich, the plan would cover all procedures that are currently not tax deductible and are not commonly covered by health insurance.
Tax deductions are allowed on procedures such as reconstructive surgery due to cancer, but nose jobs, liposuction, teeth whitening and hair implants would be subject to the new tax.
Critics have said it would give doctors the "bureaucratic nightmare" of deciding whether the tax was applicable, and would also discriminate against women, who make up 86 per cent of cosmetic surgery patients.
Other critics have said the tax would unfairly target the middle class.
Malcolm Roth, a vice president at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons who has a practice in New York, said most patients earn less than $100,000 a year.
"Typically I see women who have had children and want a tummy tuck or liposuction - they call it a 'mummy makeover'. People literally scrimp and save for years and wait until they are
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
“Kind of fun?” Only a democrat could think of using a term like that to describe a new tax.
what a dumbf@@k. Why don't they look at bureaucratic waste in D.C. and pork projects to cut the cost of government rather than coming up with annal ideas.
Dude, you own me a new monitor!
own = owe
Obama is counting on the stupidity of the sheeple to think that there is really that much cosmetic surgury going on that taxing it would really help his socialist health care costs.
He's already put a ridiculously low price tag on the cost, which is a joke. That figure doesn't even come close to what Canada's health care costs each and every year, and that country is only the size of Calipornia.
The cost of Obama's health care reforms extends far beyond actual health care.
It will cost millions of jobs in the private insurance sector, along with the collapse of hundreds of insurance companies, and the TRILLIONS of GNP they help generate for this country- just for starters.
Obama and his communists are counting on the sheer stupidity of the people and their limited ability to look beyond the immediate subject.
To paraphrase H.L. Mencken... One can NEVER overestimate the bad political sense of the American people...
''No one ever went broke underestimating the tastes of the American public.''
Twain weighed in on your topic, too.
''Suppose you were an idiot. And, suppose you were a member of Congress (pause)... but, I repeat myself.''
FReegards to you!
For numerous women, a cosmetic surgery procedure is a psychological necessity. No joke. They save for years.
So do they make it retroactive? Nancy? Joe? Anyone?
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