Posted on 10/10/2009 5:13:01 PM PDT by neverdem
Two in a series: Hidden in the Senate's health-care bill are huge incentives for corporate America to stop covering their workers. If that happens, the deficit could skyrocket.
Now that the Congressional Budget Office has concluded that the health-care bill proposed by Sen. Max Baucus will shrink the federal deficit over the next ten years, its champions are heralding the legislation as a model of fiscal responsibility.
But the CBO's comforting analysis relies on a big assumption that's highly questionable, an assumption that virtually no one on either side of the debate -- politicians, pundits, even economists -- is even challenging.
The assumption is that America's employers will keep providing coverage for their workers. But, in fact, the Baucus bill severely undermines the employer rationale for offering insurance. Economist Michael Tanner of the conservative Cato Institute points out two main reasons.
First, the Baucus bill would substantially increase the costs of coverage, for example by requiring rich benefits packages and coverage for Americans with pre-existing conditions at far less than their actual expense. At some point, employers will decide that the appeal of offering insurance as a tool for recruiting and retaining employees no longer compensates for its soaring cost.
Second, the bill is based on perverse incentives that no one is even discussing. The subsidies it offers to citizens are so rich that if companies were to drop their plans, the majority of workers would get the same lavish coverage, and extra cash in their paychecks to boot. "Those two factors will change the equilibrium," says Tanner. "With the government providing huge credits, employers will feel a lot less guilty about dumping their plans."
In fact, the Baucus bill is practically inviting employers to do just that: It imposes a fine of just $400 per employee on companies that...
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
They only found ONE dirty secret in the Baucus bill? I would have guessed that it had dozens.
Well, there’s certainly one flaw in the CBO and their $81B bull spit!
They used 10 years of income to cover 7 years of expense.
Now any numb nut that’s ever put together expense projection budget knows that you can flim flam yourself with delusions when you apply 7 years of expense to 10 years of income!
Jeebus H. Keerist...
There was a lot of crying by the rats about the deficit when Bush was in office. Where is all the crying and whining now, HYPOCRITES! Your boy has run it up to the point of no return and all is quiet in your corner. You all are as guilty as he is and this health bill will be a main factor in bring down this country. Remember who they are!
It was ALWAYS the plan. A public option that destroys the economy.
We get Marxism with gays, greens, black-hate groups, Latino hate groups, Muslims and angry women finally getting to control and punish “da white man.”
Was there any doubt that this has been the agenda all along?
The LOSERS are in charge of Congress and the Administration. They want revenge!
Well this analysis simply confirms what most of us already knew all along: that the whole intent of this health care “reform” is to ultimately create a fully socialized single-payer system by compelling employers to drop their group plans.
$400/employee “penalty” for dropping coverage? Are you kidding me? What employer in its right mind would keep its private group insurance under this plan? Hmm... let’s see... $400 vs. $12,000+.... what to do?
The other intended effect is overt redistribution of wealth (earnings) - one of Obama’s plainly-stated objectives.
It doesn’t really matter what they do with the “public option” or what they call it, even under the most innocent-sounding plan using subsidized private insurance via the government-created “exchange”.
The net result is the complete collapse of the country’s system of private insurance and payment, with the focus inevitably and unavoidably falling to the federal government to eventually become the centralized single payer.
Ergo, a complete Communist takeover of the entire healthcare system.
Of course, like I said, we already knew that.
There is no “health care’ bill - it’s a total take over bill,
They took over the auto industry/banking/college loans - and if they also control our very ability to see a doctor or get treatment - well, how many would dare buck them on anything?
Nah, companies wouldn’t do that. And even if they did, who are we to tell them not to?
Yeah, I would.
What I don’t get is why anything’s subsidized at all. Just tell employers they can kick their employees loose, no fuss, no muss. Tell the insurance companies they can charge what the market will bear. The new market won’t bear all that much without an employer covering most of the cost of the insurance plan. Prices come down to the point where individuals can afford them again. Unless, of course, you do all that AND pass a law that says you MUST buy health insurance. And subsidize the insurance companies’ price point.
I agree with ya...
Every person is replaceable - they will get someone
else to do your job for the lesser pay if you don’t
like it.
I mean, come on - $400 vs. $6000? Just do the math.
Mrs. Prince of Space
Very Very true and scarey as hell.
There may be a civil war coming sooner than we projected.
Health Control.
Keep pressing this.
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**huge incentives for corporate America to stop covering their workers. If that happens, the deficit could skyrocket.**
Figures!
I agree with your take-over bill. Scary, isn’t it?
Thanks for the ping!
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