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Prepare for Massive HEALTHCARE TAXES! by Dick Morris
The Obama healthcare initiative will be the biggest unfunded federal mandate on the states in history. It will force dozens of states, particularly in the South, to abandon their low-tax ways and to move toward dramatically higher rates of taxation. It may even force Florida and Texas to impose an income tax!
In the Senate version of the bill, states must expand their Medicaid eligibility to cover everyone with an income that is 133 percent of the poverty level.
The House bill brings it up to 150 percent. But a host of states have kept their state taxes low precisely by so limiting eligibility for Medicaid that it essentially is only for seniors needing long-term care and not for poor younger people who require acute care.
For example, Texas covers only those who make 27 percent of the poverty level or less. Florida covers only 55 percent. Pennsylvania covers only 36 percent. Arkansas covers only 17 percent. North Dakota covers only 62 percent. Nebraska covers only 58 percent. Louisiana covers only 26 percent. Indiana covers only 26 percent.
The revenue required to bring these states up to the 133 percent level in the Senate bill or the 150 percent level in the House would be enormous. Even California only covers up to 106 percent of the poverty level.
All states except for Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin (plus the District of Columbia) will have to raise their eligibility for Medicaid under the Senate healthcare bill. And they will have to pay for part of the cost. Under the House bill, with a higher Medicaid eligibility standard, Massachusetts and Vermont would also have to pay more.
The Medicaid expansion provisions of the Senate bill are complex. In the first year of the program (2013), states must enroll anyone who earns less than 133 percent of the poverty level in their programs. For a family of four, the national average poverty level in 2009 is $22,000 a year. So any family that size that makes less than $29,000 would be eligible for Medicaid.
For the first three years of the program (2013-2015) the federal government would pay for all of the costs of the Medicaid expansion. But starting in the fourth year of operation — 2016 — states would be obliged to pay 10 percent of the extra cost.
While Obama has often spoken about how he won’t raise taxes on the middle class, his healthcare legislation will require the governors to do so.
Particularly in those states with Democratic governors, it is easy to see how the backlash against these new taxes could fundamentally alter state politics.
The following table is a rough calculation of the cost each state will have to bear once it has to pick up 10 percent of the cost. These calculations are based on guidelines laid down for me by the Republican staff of the Senate Finance Committee. There has been no official data yet generated on how much the Senate or House provisions will cost the taxpayers in each state.
STATE SPENDING INCREASES IN MEDICAID REQUIRED BY SENATE HEALTH BILL
Alaska $39M
Ariz. $217M
Ark. $402M
Calif. $1,428M
Colo. $163M
Del. $35M
Fla. $909M
Ga. $495M
Hawaii $41M
Idaho $97M
Iowa $77M
Ind. $586M
Kan. $186M
Ky. $199M
La. $432M
Md. $194M
Mich. $570M
Miss. $136M
Mo. $836M
Mont. $29M
Neb. $81M
Nev. $54M
N.H. $59M
N.M. $102M
N.C. $599M
N.D. $14M
Ohio $399M
Okla. $190M
Ore. $231M
Pa. $1,490M
S.C. $122M
S.D. $33M
Texas $2,749M
Utah $58M
Va. $601M
Wash. $311M
W.Va. $132M
Wyo. $25M
These estimates were obtained by calculating the increase in Medicaid spending in each state to bring it up to the 133 percent level specified in the Senate bill. Then I applied the percentage of Medicaid spending in each state on acute care (mainly for the poor) as opposed to long-term care (mainly for the elderly). Finally, I took 10 percent of the increased state share of spending and listed it in the table above.
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Tagged dick morris, healthcare taxes, house bill, medicaid, medicare, obama, senate bill, state taxes
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HealthCare Information For Young American Voters. Most Important!
An Urgent Message From The League of American Voters
Dick Morris: New Campaign Aimed at Young
People Will Defeat Obamacare
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The League of American Voters and Dick Morris have launched GenHope.com, a powerful Web hub for an intensive education campaign to generate public opinion among young voters to defeat Obamacare.
“The key vulnerability in Obama’s healthcare plan is the financial burden it will impose on young people and their families, said Morris, the chief strategist of the League of American Voters. It threatens them with jail if they do not either get high cost health insurance (averaging $15,000 per family in premiums) or pay a fine of 2.5 percent of their income to the government. With friends like these, the young uninsured Americans don’t need enemies.”
The Leagues campaign, billed Generation Hope, is targeted toward the difficult-to-reach voters, ages 18-29, who dont watch cable news or closely follow politics. It blends a traditional paid-media strategy on broadcast television with a new media campaign powered by a cutting-edge Web operation.
Voters under 30 are the strongest supporters of Obamas plan, said Bob Adams, executive director of the League of American Voters. Until they learn Obama imposes heavy fines on them, not to mention taxes on wheelchairs, pacemakers, and even breast-milk pumps for working mothers ? all to pay for his expensive plan. And thats just the tip of the dirty needle.
The under-30 age group gave Barack Obama 66 percent of their vote in the 2008 presidential election, and are the last remaining age demographic group still onboard with the presidents plan.
Seniors originally backed Obamacare, but the League and others launched a national campaign exposing its dangers to the elderly. Almost every national poll today shows seniors strongly oppose Obamacare.
“We believe young voters will wake up to the dangerous reality of Obamacare, just like seniors did,” Adams explained.
The League has strong evidence its outreach to young people will work.
A recent League survey found a collapse in support among young voters when they learned the details of the plan.
Under-30 voters backed the healthcare bill making its way through Congress and supported by President Obama by a margin of 58 percent to 30 percent, according to the survey.
But when the same groups of voters were provided a fair and unbiased description of the plan, support dropped 13 points to a margin of 55 percent to 40 percent When told specific details of the plan ? such as taxes for medical devices, unrealistic cost estimates, rationing for the elderly, and cuts to Medicare ? under-30 voters opposed by a margin of 43 percent to 45 percent ? a nosedive of 30 points.
To complement its Web strategy, the League is also running a series of TV spots targeted at under-30 voters in keys swings states.
The first ad began airing in four states and is a take-off of the famous Mac commercial. The ad also runs on GenHope.com.
This is reality-based politics, not the make-believe fantasy world painted by the White House, Adams said. The game is over when young people learn just how devastating Obamacare will be for their future and families.
The League of American Voters is a Washington-based membership organization and is organized as a 501(c)4 grass-roots lobbying organization.
Please help us in the critical campaign to stop Obamacare. Your donations allow us to reach millions. Congress will soon decide on a final healthcare bill.
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Tagged defeat obamacare, high taxes, jail time, league of american voters, medicare, taxes, voters under 30, young people, young voters
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The Case of the Expensive Wheelchair
There may be no greater challenge in reforming the health care system than eliminating waste. Federal examiners estimate that at least 10 percent of the $500 billion spent annually on Medicare is wasted—from overblown or fraudulent bills, or payments to misidentified or nonexistent patients, doctors or institutions.
Consider power wheelchairs. As the population has aged, their use—and cost—has soared. Under Medicare, several hundred suppliers across the country buy wheelchairs from manufacturers and then generally lease them to beneficiaries. In 1997, Medicare and Medicare beneficiaries paid just over $100 million to buy or lease power wheelchairs; today they pay more than $1 billion.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Health and Human Services has examined thousands of vouchers and invoices for wheelchairs and reported that the average annual cost to Medicare in 2007 was $4,018, nearly four times the $1,048 paid by suppliers.
For more elaborate power wheelchairs, the average Medicare allowance was $11,507, almost twice the $5,880 price paid by suppliers.
Efforts to address the excess have been stymied—classic Washington. The medical equipment lobby, which spent $6.3 million in presidential and congressional campaign contributions last year, is as effective as any group of federal lobbyists. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in its oversight role, has been slow to act. And Congress has blocked attempts to impose competitive bidding.
Industry leaders complain that servicing the machinery is getting more expensive and that their companies have been hurt by inflation and reduced Medicare rates. Medicare compensation has indeed been scaled back with a 9.5 percent cut in payments. According to the OIG, that brought the average payment down to $3,641 in 2009, still three times the price paid by suppliers.
The problem has been explored intensely over the past five years by the OIG, the Government Accountability Office, the Senate Finance Committee and the FBI, which brought dozens of arrests and convictions from Florida to California.
Medicare officials agreed with most of the OIG’s recent suggestions that the fee structure be reevaluated. But they balked at the conclusion that the payments were “grossly higher” than the suppliers’ cost.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has a different perspective: “At a time when every health care dollar counts, it’s infuriating to learn that the government is throwing away money and is still overpaying for power wheelchairs. This translates into hundreds of millions of dollars wasted and cost beneficiaries millions of dollars in copayments. It’s only common sense that you don’t pay more for something than is on the price tag.”
He’s right. The disparity in prices to supplier and to beneficiary defies common sense. The longer this imbalance continues, the greater the threat to Medicare. And the failure to crack down on waste threatens the credibility of the ambitious effort to overhaul the nation’s health care system. Jim Toedtman, Editor – AARP Bulletin http://www.bulletin.aarp.org
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Posted in General, Political
Tagged chuck grassley, disparity, federal examiners, medicaid, medicare, office of inspector general, oig, wheelchair
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ObamaCare – Startling new revelations Scare Public – By Floyd and Mary Beth Brown
First, we learned that a $500 billion cut in Medicare will dramatically affect the quality and quantity of healthcare available to America’s senior citizens. Grandma’s access is being slashed to add illegal immigrants and twenty-somethings into the insurance system. However, this revelation pales in relation to what we heard this week.
Here’s the latest shock: Average current health care insurance premiums will likely triple under ObamaCare!
The new data comes from well regarded, state-by-state study conducted for WellPoint, Inc. The most dramatic premium boosts will hit young people. These are the actual individuals that often opt out of insurance plans now.
Reaction from the Obama White House was swift and harsh. Linda Douglass, Obama’s healthcare spokesperson , had the audacity to compare the health insurance firm with tobacco companies. Since the White House refuses to argue the facts, they instead turned to using one of their favorite tactics, which is demonizing any voices of dissent.
The reason for the dramatic insurance premium increases is the result of ObamaCare regulations. First cause is the mandate that insurance companies take any customer. Insurance traditionally is an actuarial business that rates different based on risk factors. This is the reason a driver aged 19 with two speeding tickets pays more for auto insurance than a customer aged 35 with no speeding tickets. Nineteen-year-olds have more accidents! Therefore they pose more risk.
Traditionally, health insurance companies charged customers with risk factors and chronic illness more than young, healthy 19-year-olds. ObamaCare stands the the concept of insurance on its head. Since an insurance company will be forced to sell to any sick patient, the incentive to buy insurance when you are healthy decreases. Why not wait until you are sick; get cancer, diabetes or some other severe illness before you buy? To circumvent this problem, Obama is riddling the program with police-state mandates on healthy, younger citizens. Perverted, negative incentives such as threats of large fines and even prison time will hang over young people’s heads to force them to join and stay enrolled in Obama’s healthcare scheme. Does this sound like America to you?
Democratic leaders in Congress are seeing support slip through their fingers because Americans are learning that they will end up paying more for less-adequate care.The beneficiaries of this plan are still lobbying hard. Big business will likely dump most of their current employee-based plans and pay the less expensive tax. Big unions are facing the reality that they are going to be bankrupted by their generous membership health plans. Many want to dump their responsibilities on the new government option recently revived by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. AARP is salivating at the money they will make selling new, bigger Medicare-gap plans after the current program is gutted!
These powerful lobbies are the driving force for change. Individual family finances will pay the higher costs and see no benefit!
There is still time to kill this wrong-headed plan and replace it with reforms that will truly work. Selling insurance across state lines will increase competition and lower prices. Tort reform that eliminates outrageous judgments in malpractice cases will get lawyers out of medicine; this will result in eliminating billions currently spent in the name of defensive medicine.
Insurance can work, but the costly mandates and regulations, already choking the healthcare system are a big barrier to cutting costs.
Free markets deliver to Americans consumer goods, groceries, veterinary services, and even plastic surgery at affordable prices with little government meddlling. Let the free market price and correct the distortions currently in the health care system.
Government has bankrupted Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Social Security, Medicare and the U. S. Postal Service. Let’s not let the politicians destroy the greatest healthcare delivery system in the world! Bar none!
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Posted in Congressional, Political
Tagged bankrupted, democrats, fannie mae, freddie mac, grandma, health insurance, medicare, obamacare, republicans, scare public, social security, white house, young people
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Unhealthy HealthCare- from Pueblo Chieftain
Unhealthy HealthCare
THE DEMOCRATIC leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives is pressing for an early vote on their draconian takeover of health care.
Draconian takeover? Stay tuned.
In their attempt to provide “universal” coverage to all Americans, the liberals are proposing the biggest Ponzi scheme ever tried in this country. They say they are going to provide more health coverage to more people for less money.
Don’t believe it. They propose to wring billions of dollars of “savings” from Medicare, but Medicare already is paying far less to providers – doctors, hospitals and others – than what are their costs of giving care.
In the long run, seniors will be forced to accept less care. Money doesn’t grow on trees. The same goes for the so-called “public option” that Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to foist on people. It is purported to be an alternative for providing insurance to millions of Americans. But the same federal government that has been ratcheting down payments for medical services under Medicare will also dictate how much providers must accept to treat the ill and infirm covered by the public option.
With new rules governing what private insurance carriers must do, their ability to stay in business will wilt and die. That leaves only the government – Big Brother – paying for health care.
The legislation proposes a vast array of new taxes on medical devices ($40 billion), pharmaceuticals ($23 billion), and insurance policies ($67 billion), which means the cost of private health insurance will have to be increased. Then those same Americans will have to pay $200 billion in taxes on their health benefits.
Then consider that this week numerous Democratic officials and congressional budget experts admitted the health bill pushed by Speaker Pelosi would cost $1.2 trillion or more over a decade. That’s a huge new addition to the public debt.
A Pelosi spokesman announced with a straight face that the bill would “not add one dime to the deficit.” This must be the now-discredited “new math” that was all the rage a quarter-century ago.
Meanwhile, the liberals have resisted any attempt at tort reform to help contain the cost of medical malpractice insurance. The tort bar is one of the congressional Democrats’ biggest donor group. Doctors and hospitals have to pass on their costs, including those for medical malpractice insurance, so in the end, the patient must bear the cost.
All of this means that the bill being pressed by Speaker Pelosi is by no stretch of the imagination “revenue-neutral.” Colorado’s 3rd District congressman, John Salazar, has said he would not vote for any bill that is not “revenue neutral.” As a congressman with strong Western values and high integrity, we know that he will live up to that pledge, despite the fact it would require a great deal of courage to do so.
In the longer term, this legislation is a substantial step toward a draconian takeover of medical care in the United States. It would head us down the path of socialized medicine – a path Great Britain and Canada already have trod.
Under socialized medicine, care is rationed. There are long waits for many kinds of treatments, and a substantial number of ill patients – particularly senior citizens – never get the care they need before their illness kills them.
There’s one word for this kind of health system: Unhealthy.
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