Bob Herbert, in the NY Times, finally is waking up to the fact that the Senate health bill passed on Christmas Eve is all smoke and mirrors.
Herbert, who backed Jimmy Carter in excoriating opponents of Obamacare as racists, now admits that the supporters of the Senate bill are not being truthful about the effects of the tax on so-called “Cadillac” health care plans:
There is a middle-class tax time bomb ticking in the Senate’s version of President Obama’s effort to reform health care.
The bill that passed the Senate with such fanfare on Christmas Eve would impose a confiscatory 40 percent excise tax on so-called Cadillac health plans, which are popularly viewed as over-the-top plans held only by the very wealthy. In fact, it’s a tax that in a few years will hammer millions of middle-class policyholders, forcing them to scale back their access to medical care.
Among other things, Herbert picks apart promises by Senate Democrats and Obama that the tax will not result in diminished care, will raise tax revenue, and will result in higher wages for employees.
Reviewing all these false promises, Herbert states:
The tax on health benefits is being sold to the public dishonestly as something that will affect only the rich, and it makes a mockery of President Obama’s repeated pledge that if you like the health coverage you have now, you can keep it.
Those who believe this is a good idea should at least have the courage to be straight about it with the American people.
Herbert should have just said, “You lie!”
Update: You can stop Obamacare – GOP Abandons Scott Brown, But We’re Not
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Comments
No worries, mate, if you are a longshoreman. Their union is exempt from this tax. Nice huh. I bet the other unions are envious.
http://rossputin.com/blog/index.php/more-democratic-favors-and-cost-shifting-in-harrycare
Its the Unions that want to get rid of this one. Sure other folks work for companies that have good plans, but it's the Unions that have paid for this media assault on the Senate plan. Watch for Obama to demand the Senate and House walk back from this provision.
you and herbert should each at least acknowledge that these thresholds are indexed for inflation, so to call this a "ticking time bomb" is to assume that premiums will rise faster than inflation.