Donna Brazile sent the Tweet of the Day earlier this week when she expressed amazement that her health insurance premiums were rising, “You broke the health care system, you own it” Tweet of the Day:
Well take a look at this, Donna, IRS moves to collect billions in fees from healthcare law (h/t @tokm)(emphasis added)
The Internal Revenue Service on Friday unveiled its proposal to raise tens of billions of dollars through annual fees on health insurers, prompting fierce criticism from industry groups who warn the costs will be passed along to consumers.The proposed rule from President Obama’s healthcare law will be published for public consideration in Monday’s Federal Register.The rule would assess annual fees on most insurers that would total $8 billion next year and rise thereafter, eclipsing $14 billion in 2018, according to the IRS. The fees would vary in size, depending on a firm’s net premiums, and would come due by Sept. 30 every year.Insurers that don’t pay on time would face penalties of $10,000, plus $1,000 for every day they miss deadline.The IRS acknowledged concerns from outside groups who suggest “that covered entities may attempt to recover a large portion of the fee from policyholders.” The agency will accept comments for 90 days, beginning Monday.America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the leading trade group for the insurance industry, blasted the fees as a tax that would exceed $100 billion in the next decade and hit average families still struggling to rebound from the economic recession.“This is a new $100 billion tax on health insurance,” AHIP spokesman Robert Zirkelbach said in an interview Friday. “Taxing health insurance is only going to make it more expensive.
As predicted on August 14, 2009, IRS The New Health Care Enforcer.
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