House Leaders Introduce Health Care Reform Bill That Taxes Millionaires

Thursday, Jul 16,2009, 11:32:32 AM Click:

WASHINGTON, Jul 15, 2009 (A. M. Best via COMTEX)After delays caused by an internal debate among Democrats, the party leaders in the House of Representatives has finally introduced the bill that is their field of how to reform the U.S. health care system.
The bill would protect people from pre-existing condition restrictions, provide assistance for those who can not afford insurance and create an option for health insurance - the idea of a plan administered by the Government which is widely criticized by the insurance industry.

One major issue in the debate was how to pay for the expensive changes. Here's what the bill would reportedly do:

-- A tax of 5.4% on people whose income exceeds $1 million. The tax, which includes capital gains, would be levied against people with lesser incomes, too: 1.5% for those who make between $500,000 and $1 million and 1% for those in the $350,000 to $500,000 income range;

-- Charging employers for workers they don't offer coverage to, a fee totalling 8% of each employee's wages;

-- Charging individuals a fee of up to 2.5% of their gross income if they don't acquire health insurance; and

-- Savings from reductions in future Medicare and Medicaid spending.

"This is indeed a happy day," said Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, calling the new bill "a health insurance act for the great middle class of America."

President Barack Obama said in a statement the proposal "controls the skyrocketing cost of health care by rooting out waste and fraud and promoting quality and accountability. Its savings of more than $500 billion over 10 years will strengthen Medicare and contribute to our goal of reforming health care in a fiscally responsible way. ... The House proposal will begin the process of fixing what's broken about our health care system, reducing costs for all, building on what works, and covering an estimated 97% of all Americans." At an event July 13, the president had assured people his goal for reform was possible: "For those naysayers and cynics who think this is not going to happen: Don't bet against us."

Just before Democratic leaders announced the introduction of the bill, House Republicans talked about their own legislative ideas and criticized those of the Democrats. "It seems that the highway of history of our country has been littered with the wreckage of socialist ideas," said Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz. He said that innovation is "the only hope" for health care in the long run and that it "will only exist in a private system."

While the House could likely muster enough support in the Democrat-dominated chamber to pass the bill against Republican opposition, the real question remains: Can the Senate can match it? The Democratic majority there is much tighter -- especially considering the 60-vote requirement to bypass any potential Republican filibuster threat.

Unlike the House, where the three relevant committees of the efforts to build a bill, the Senate currently two bills in progress - one in health, education, labor and pensions and another on the Finance Committee. The latter asked Republican input and May is closer to a bipartisan effort in the reform debate. Before the final vote of the Congress can not take place, all invoices will be included in a complex compromise.

The new bill between the House Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor committees. Rep. Charles Rangel, DN.Y., chairman of Ways and Means, said in announcing the bill, "If we do nothing else, we can say that we were part of the team that universal health care for America. "

The vote in the committees should take place quickly, so the bill can move to the House floor before the August recess Congress. Pelosi said: "We are still in time to do what we anticipated."