Who Will Fund the Health Care Reform Package? December 26
In a previous post, we shared how much the proposed health care reform bill will cost; after finding out that the entire package will cost about a trillion dollars or thereabouts, the next obvious question will be: where in the world will all this money come from?
Funding for the bill will still come from taxpayers, and there will be modifications that will be made to the taxes of certain groups of people. In the House proposal, individual taxpayers whose annual incomes are more than half a million dollars and families whose combined incomes go beyond a million dollars will be charged with a 5.4 percent income tax surcharge.
The Senate proposal, on the other hand, will increase Medicare payroll tax from 1.45 percent to 2.35 percent among individuals who earn more than $200,000 and couples who earn more than $250,000. New taxes will be imposed on insurers that provide “Cadillac” plans while indoor tanning salon treatments will be charged with a 10% tax.
In addition to these sources of funding, both the House and Senate bills intend to cut Medicare and Medicaid funding, a fact that has stirred debate. Republicans contend that such a move will “impair Medicare coverage” while Democrats counter that the savings will come from the elimination of waste and fraud.
In both the House and Senate bills, individuals are required to purchase health insurance or be fined up to 2.5% of one’s personal income. The Senate bill proposes a “starting fine” for non-compliance pegged at $95 in 2010 and then grows to $750 by 2016. Parents will also be required to provide health insurance coverage to their children until the age of 18.
Recognizing the fact that such an imposition will not be affordable to all Americans, both the Senate and House bills provide for subsidies for insurance for a family of four that has an annual income of $88,000 a year.
Tags: health care amendment, health care bill, health care budget, health care changes, health care funding, health care reform, senate health care
westbrook Dec 26
Somebody mentioned Currently, a 60-year-old likely would pay five or six times more for private medical insurance than someone in his twenties but it may not be true always check http://bit.ly/7bwEx2 for lower price coverages
sizzix big shot Mar 25
I normally surf all over the web because I have the tendancy to read often (which isn’t always a good thing because the majority of blogs just copy from each other) but I have to say that yours contains some great substance! Thanks for stopping the trend of just being another copycat site!
leo83 Jun 27
Very interesting entry, thanks for the information. I hope more of these on the blog.