This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 1:43 pm and is filed under FYI. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Max Baucus has released his plan, with no cosponsors.
“There is no way in its present form that I will vote for it.” – Sen. Jay Rockefeller (W-Va.) “The Baucus bill is the worst piece of healthcare legislation I’ve seen in 30 years.” – Former DNC chair Howard Dean “Seldom have so many waited so long for so little. This isn’t negotiation; it is capitulation to the insurance industry.” – Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)This is James Capretta’s take:
[It has] three key provisions: a requirement that individuals secure “qualified coverage” or pay a hefty tax to the federal government (the so-called “individual mandate”); a requirement on most employers to offer “qualified coverage” to their full-time workers; and a “firewall” which requires most working Americans to sign up with insurance offered on the job without any additional governmental assistance…
For low wage, full-time workers who are offered qualified coverage on the job, the hidden and implicit taxes of Obamacare are truly stunning. A worker with an annual income at 200 percent of the federal poverty line — $44,100 if the worker is married with two children — could be required to sign up with insurance costing $13,375 per year. The employee portion of the premium would be notionally capped at 13 percent of annual income, or $5,720. The employer would pay the other $7,655 — but the employer portion too would come out of the worker’s take-home pay (possibly after some period of adjustment)… The foregone tax liability on an average employer-sponsored plan is likely to be about $4000 (including payroll taxes). The other $9,000 plus in health insurance premiums — regardless of how it is split between worker and firm — would be shouldered by the worker himself. At $44,100, a $9,000 health insurance premium amounts to 20 percent of income.
September 16th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
This is hilarious. Not the tax on labor, but the way the Democrats are fighting with each other.
September 16th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
The only thing bipartisan about this bill is the opposition to it.
September 16th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
This may be a good development. The Democrats appear to be coming apart.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I believe the best of all possible worlds at this point is no bill at all.
September 18th, 2009 at 8:56 am
I agree with Vicki.