Health Care- the bill

[James48843]

Today, after more than 700 hours of hearings, after adopting more than 190 Republican amendments to the original House bill, and after months of hearings, the final House version of the Health Care bill has been posted on internet, and introduced today.

Some complained they wanted 72 hours before the House took a vote. Ok.- here is the 72 hours. The bill is now posted on the internet, and the Speaker of the House says it will be next week before a floor vote is taken- allowing everyone plenty of time to review the bill, and let their Congressmen/women know what they think. Democrats held open markup this week to merge elements from three different committee bills. Anyone could walk in an listen, and see, as amendments from both sides of the aisle, from all three versions of committee bills were aired, some ideas being adopted- others not- but all being considered seriously. It protects senior citizens- closes the Medicare prescription doughnut hole, eliminates disenrollment for "preexisting conditions", and provides for improved health care for the future.

Here is the link to H.R. 3962- introduced today by Michigan Congressman John Dingle as prime sponsor.

http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf

Read it for yourself.

[McDuck]

It's 1900+ pages. And I'm not a speed reader. BHO took 8 months to pick a dog for Millie and Suzie, isn't 1/6 of the economy just as important?

[nnuut]

It doesn't take long to find some really interesting things in this Monster!

SEC. 552. EXCISE TAX ON MEDICAL DEVICES.

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(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 31 of the Internal Rev10

enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the

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following new subchapter:

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‘‘Subchapter D—Medical Devices

‘‘Sec. 4061. Medical devices.

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‘‘SEC. 4061. MEDICAL DEVICES.

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‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is hereby imposed on the

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first taxable sale of any medical device a tax equal to 2.5

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percent of the price for which so sold.

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‘‘(b) FIRST TAXABLE SALE.—For purposes of this

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section—

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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘first taxable

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sale’ means the first sale, for a purpose other than

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for resale, after production, manufacture, or importation.

VerDate Nov

[grandma]

Originally Posted by McDuck

It's 1900+ pages. And I'm not a speed reader. BHO took 8 months to pick a dog for Millie and Suzie, isn't 1/6 of the economy just as important?

well, I guess we could div'ee it up & each take a page or two ..reading.gif

studying.gif.

[Show-me]

Way to tax the end user of a medical device. A medical device can be anything, contacts, catheter, stints, pace maker, glue for bone fusion, test kits for anything, Hepatitis, breast cancer, glucose, etc.

Sounds like the Dem's needed to come up with some serious money to tax everyone for their medical devices.

They would add 2.5% onto my son's $20k spinal fusion rods and screws. Plus all the other small things you don't think of like catheters. NO MORE TAXES!

I say bunk.

[nnuut]

Dig deeper just search for TAX!!!!!

[tsptalk]

Pelosi Gives Big Present to Trial Lawyers...

"Section 2531, entitled “Medical Liability Alternatives,” establishes an incentive program for states to adopt and implement alternatives to medical liability litigation. [But]…… a state is not eligible for the incentive payments if that state puts a law on the books that limits attorneys’ fees or imposes caps on damages."

The exact opposite of what should have been done!

[Minnow]

From another site... read at your own leisure... oh wait... 1900 pages... you better get cracking: this is one site's interpretation of the bill... I'm just going to figure that, just like the stimulus, it doesn't matter what the ratio of opposed letters/phone calls, etc., the powers that be will do whatever they want.
http://www.atr.org/breaking-comprehensiv....

H.R. 3962, the "Affordable Health Care for America Act" has been introduced--all 1990 pages of it. This gargantuan beast contains thirteen new tax hikes. Here they all are, with description and page number (PDF version):

***

Employer Mandate Excise Tax (Page 275): If an employer does not pay 72.5 percent of a single employee’s health premium (65 percent of a family employee), the employer must pay an excise tax equal to 8 percent of average wages. Small employers (measured by payroll size) have smaller payroll tax rates of 0 percent (<$500,000), 2 percent ($500,000-$585,000), 4 percent ($585,000-$670,000), and 6 percent ($670,000-$750,000).

Individual Mandate Surtax (Page 296): If an individual fails to obtain qualifying coverage, he must pay an income surtax equal to the lesser of 2.5 percent of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) or the average premium. MAGI adds back in the foreign earned income exclusion and municipal bond interest.

Medicine Cabinet Tax (Page 324): Non-prescription medications would no longer be able to be purchased from health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible spending accounts (FSAs), or health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). Insulin excepted.

Cap on FSAs (Page 325): FSAs would face an annual cap of $2500 (currently uncapped).

Increased Additional Tax on Non-Qualified HSA Distributions (Page 326): Non-qualified distributions from HSAs would face an additional tax of 20 percent (current law is 10 percent). This disadvantages HSAs relative to other tax-free accounts (e.g. IRAs, 401(k)s, 529 plans, etc.)

Denial of Tax Deduction for Employer Health Plans Coordinating with Medicare Part D (Page 327): This would further erode private sector participation in delivery of Medicare services.

Surtax on Individuals and Small Businesses (Page 336): Imposes an income surtax of 5.4 percent on MAGI over $500,000 ($1 million married filing jointly). MAGI adds back in the itemized deduction for margin loan interest. This would raise the top marginal tax rate in 2011 from 39.6 percent under current law to 45 percent—a new effective top rate.

Excise Tax on Medical Devices (Page 339): Imposes a new excise tax on medical device manufacturers equal to 2.5 percent of the wholesale price. It excludes retail sales and unspecified medical devices sold to the general public.

Corporate 1099-MISC Information Reporting (Page 344): Requires that 1099-MISC forms be issued to corporations as well as persons for trade or business payments. Current law limits to just persons for small business compliance complexity reasons. Also expands reporting to exchanges of property.

Delay in Worldwide Allocation of Interest (Page 345): Delays for nine years the worldwide allocation of interest, a corporate tax relief provision from the American Jobs Creation Act

Limitation on Tax Treaty Benefits for Certain Payments (Page 346): Increases taxes on U.S. employers with overseas operations looking to avoid double taxation of earnings.

Codification of the “Economic Substance Doctrine” (Page 349): Empowers the IRS to disallow a perfectly legal tax deduction or other tax relief merely because the IRS deems that the motive of the taxpayer was not primarily business-related.

Application of “More Likely Than Not” Rule (Page 357): Publicly-traded partnerships and corporations with annual gross receipts in excess of $100 million have raised standards on penalties. If there is a tax underpayment by these taxpayers, they must be able to prove that the estimated tax paid would have more likely than not been sufficient to cover final tax liability.

[James48843]

Health Care Reform.


NOW.

[grandma]

James, this video reminds me of a `joke' I just got - you buy an oversize ice cream cone, pay, then the counter guy takes the ice cream from you, hands it (no picture of how that was done!) to the guy in line behind you who had no money to buy one for himself.
So now you - You are left with an empty wallet and no change, holding an empty cone with no hope of getting any ice cream. Are you stimulated?????????

[James48843]

Would you stop to help?

[James48843]

Originally Posted by Minnow

Employer Mandate Excise Tax (Page 275): If an employer does not pay 72.5 percent of a single employee’s health premium (65 percent of a family employee), the employer must pay an excise tax equal to 8 percent of average wages. Small employers (measured by payroll size) have smaller payroll tax rates of 0 percent (<$500,000), 2 percent ($500,000-$585,000), 4 percent ($585,000-$670,000), and 6 percent ($670,000-$750,000).

I'm fine with that. A $500,000 payroll is not a tiny operation. It scales up to 8% tops. In Germany, which has a great health care system, they pay about 15% tax on all earnings, from zero to infinity. Those who make a small amount pay very little, and those who make a lot of money pay more. But it works because everyone is treated the same- with world class health care provided, and every single person is covered.