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Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Insure Success? Feed The Donkey
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Insurance Companies Team Up With Dems To Line Their Own Pockets At The Expense Of Middle-Class Americans
OBAMA’S INDIVIDUAL MANDATE A GIVEAWAY FOR INSURANCE COMPANIES, BURDENSOME TAX FOR MIDDLE CLASS
Obama’s Health Care Experiment Includes “Individual Mandate” That Taxes Middle-Class Families Who Can’t Afford Insurance. Joint Committee On Taxation Chief Of Staff Thomas Barthold: “Senator Grassley, the penalty proposed in the Chairman’s mark, is as you observed, it’s structured as a penalty excise tax, we have other penalty excise taxes in the internal revenue code ... We have not done a combined distribution analyses across income to specifically answer your question but to the extent that yes we think that some people would be subject to the penalty excise tax when everything shakes out we would expect that some would have incomes less than $200,000 dollars.” (George Stephanopoulos, “Mandate Or Tax? Grassley V. Baucus,” ABC News’s “George’s Bottom Line” Blog, 9/22/09)
- Obama’s Assistant HHS Secretary Admits Individual Mandate Is “A Very Regressive Tax.” “The individual mandate offers new options, but it also introduces risks. The mandate is in many respects analogous to a tax. … [T]he mandate will act as a very regressive tax, penalizing uninsured people who genuinely cannot afford to buy coverage.” (Sherry A. Glied, “Universal Coverage One Head At A Time — The Risks And Benefits Of Individual Health Insurance Mandates,” New England Journal Of Medicine, 4/10/08)
Insurance Companies Fighting For Higher Tax To Bring In New Customers, Generate Windfall Profits. “[I]nsurance companies are pushing back against changes to the latest Senate health-care bill that ease the penalties for Americans for don’t carry health insurance … Senators refining the legislation last week narrowed the scope of a new requirement that all Americans carry health insurance out of concern it penalized people who can’t afford to buy it … The changes mean the new mandate would apply to two million fewer people, largely those with lower incomes … Key industries bought into the measure -- and agreed to absorb cuts in reimbursements -- on the expectation that millions of new customers would be brought into the health-care system.” (Janet Adamy and Greg Hitt, “Insurers Fight Bid To Ease Penalties In Health Bill,” The Wall Street Journal, 10/6/09)
No Wonder Obama Attacked Hillary Clinton Over This Tax During Campaign. "Senator Clinton believes the only way to achieve universal health care is to force everybody to purchase it ... and my belief is the reason that people don't have it is not because they don't want it, but because they can't afford it." (Michael Luo, "Check Point," The New York Times, 2/22/08)
SO DON’T BELIEVE DEMS’ RHETORIC ON INSURANCE COMPANIES …
Obama Says Government-Run Health Care Will Keep Insurance Companies Honest. “Now, I have no interest in putting insurance companies out of business … I just want to hold them accountable. And the insurance reforms that I’ve already mentioned would do just that. But an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchange.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks To A Joint Session Of Congress, U.S. Capitol, 9/9/09)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Calls Insurance Companies “Villans” “Of course they’ve been immoral all along in how they have treated people that they insure … they are the villains. They have been part of the problem in a major way.” (Richard Cowan, “Pelosi Lashes Out Against Insurance Companies,” Reuters, 7/30/09)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) Says Government-Run Health Care “Must Include A Mechanism To Keep Insurers Honest, Create Competition …” (Alex Koppelman, “But What Kind Of Public Option Is Reid Promising?” Salon.com, 10/2/09)
BECAUSE INSURANCE COMPANIES POURING MONEY INTO DEMS’ COFFERS
Senate Finance Committee Democrats And Their PACs Received At Least $4,106,814 In Contributions From The Health Insurance Industry In The 2008 Cycle. (Center For Responsive Politics Website, www.opensecrets.org, Accessed 10/6/09)
And They’ve Already Received At Least $3,275,796 In Contributions From The Health Insurance Industry For The 2010 Cycle. (Center For Responsive Politics Website, www.opensecrets.org, Accessed 10/6/09)
In 2008 Cycle, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) And His Glacier PAC Received At Least $1,111,035 From The Health Insurance Industry. (Center for Responsive Politics Website, www.opensecrets.org, Accessed 10/6/09)
In 2010 Cycle So Far, Sen. Baucus And His Glacier PAC Have Received At Least $954,425 From The Health Insurance Industry. (Center for Responsive Politics Website, www.opensecrets.org, Accessed 10/6/09)
In 2008 Cycle, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) And Her New Century PAC Received At Least $403,718 In Contributions From The Health Insurance Industry. (Center For Responsive Politics Website, www.opensecrets.org, Accessed 10/6/09)
In 2010 Cycle So Far, Sen. Lincoln Received At Least $217,900 In Contributions From The Health Insurance Industry. (Center For Responsive Politics Website, www.opensecrets.org, Accessed 10/6/09)
In 2008 Cycle, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) And His Impact PAC Received At Least $345,250 From The Health Insurance Industry. (Center For Responsive Politics Website, www.opensecrets.org, Accessed 10/6/09)
In 2010 Cycle So Far, Sen. Schumer And His Impact PAC Received At Least $254,000 From The Health Insurance Industry. (Center For Responsive Politics Website, www.opensecrets.org, Accessed 10/6/09)
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