Sanders, top Dems urge repeal of 'Cadillac' tax

[n2doc]

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and seven Democratic senators introduced a bill Thursday to repeal ObamaCare’s so-called “Cadillac” tax on high-cost healthcare plans.

The bill’s Democratic cosponsors include heavyweights such as Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is in line to become the chamber’s top Democrat, as well as Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the chamber’s longest-serving member. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who leads the Senate’s ACA Works campaign, has also signed on.

The Democratic presidential candidate’s newest bill gives momentum to a years-long lobbying campaign by both business leaders and union groups. The Democrats' repeal push puts them in direct odds with President Obama, who has refused to budge on the much-maligned tax.

The move also puts pressure on Sanders' presidential rival Hillary Clinton to declare her position on the tax. She has previously said she is “examining” the provision but did not make any mention of the tax during a series of speeches this week focused on her healthcare platform.

more
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/254842-sanders-top-dems-urge-repeal-of-cadillac-tax

[Cosmic Kitten]

1. That tax never made sense.

I know many union people
who would suffer under that tax.
They are not wealthy nor millionaires,
just hard working people who carry
a tax burden imposed on them
because millionaires won't pay
their fair share.

Go Bernie!

[merrily]

13. Agree. I worked in a company with a cadillac plan. The partners wanted it for themselves

and there were adverse tax consequences if everyone in the company did not have the same plan. So, the person who worked the copy machines and the messengers had the same coverage as the guys (yes, all male) pulling down almost a million bucks a year. They had the cash to pay a cadillac tax. They also had the ability to go to a cheaper plan, if they wished. The supply clerk had neither.

[PoliticAverse]

4. It was part of the ACA, for an extensive explanation of the history and reasoning

for the tax, see:
http://www.healthaffairs.org/healthpolicybriefs/brief.php?brief_id=99

[merrily]

14. That "extensive explanation" reads like argle bargle bullshit.

What makes a lot more sense to me than that argle bargle: They were desperate for money to make Obamacare less costly. Paygo. Taxing "Cadillac plans" was one of the places they found some money.

BTW, are you supporting Bernie Sanders to defeat Hillary Clinton in this primary?

[PoliticAverse]

22. Yes. n/t

[merrily]

26. It's so very hard to tell whom some DUers support in this primary and also harder and

harder to take their word for it. Even when you search DU for their past posts and read quite a few.

Sometimes, I wonder if they know Bernie's supporters can actually see what they've been posting. And what they haven't been posting.

[merrily]

15. Whom do you mean by "all"? And what is your point?

That someone who voted for ACA rather than leave Americans with no health plan should not be seeking to improve ACA? After all, isn't that what we were told? It was a first step and better than nothing. Even Social Security needed improvement. Blah, blah, blah? So, now that legislators attempt to improve it, we should throw in their faces that they voted for it? Jesus Christ on a pogo stick.

BTW, are you aware that this group is not LBN, or GD or GD: P or the Hillary Group or the Obama Group, but is the only group on the entire board where posters who support Bernie Sanders to defeat Hillary Clinton in the upcoming Democratic Primary can post to each other without having to discuss issues with Democrats who don't share their views?

[merrily]

30. I see nothing that justifies your claim that lawmakers are acting shocked about the "Cadillac plan"

tax. So the good news is that you have nothing about which to be annoyed.

You can post in any group you want, as long as you satisfy the SOP of the group in which you are posting. I doubt that is true of this group, though.

See you on other parts of the board maybe.

[napi21]

3. Shouldn't we examine just how integrated this tax is with Obamacare?

What will it do to the rest of the ACA if they eliminate it? I don't know the answer. Maybe you do, but I think we should find out before just agreeing with anyone.

[Demeter]

7. It's a way to crapify the entire system down to the lowest level

but Obamacare itself should be scrapped for a true universal single payer healthcare system.

[Hydra]

8. The ACA a Republican program

So little wonder how it beats on normal people. We CAN do better. We have to.

[merrily]

11. HeritageFoundationCare to Hillarycare to Romneycare to Obamacare.

Buy Partisan.

[napi21]

9. I agree on the universal single payer, but we won't see that until

Dems gain back control of the House & the Senate AND have a Dem Prez. Until then, Obamacare is better than what we had before.

[merrily]

12. As they were when ACA, complete with Obama's handwritten changes, ultimately passed

by reconciliation? Requiring only 50 Senators plus Biden?

Yeah, yeah, I know. Lieberman.

BTW, why are so many of Hillary's supporters posting on this in a group that is restricted to posters who want Bernie Sanders to win the primary?

[merrily]

16. In this group, "we" means DUers who want Bernie Sanders to win the 2016 primary. Which "we" are you

referring to?

[merrily]

17. Ten posters on this shortish thread so far and at least 3 of the ten are Hillary's supporters.

I wonder how often the reverse happens in the Hillary Group? And they "wonder" why the hosts of this group have to ban people.

[marym625]

31. how often the reverse happens?

I know you're joking!

[merrily]

32. I'm guessing--Not often!

[marym625]

33. assuming nothing has changed

You get blocked there just for posting if you're a Sanders supporter. I don't even bother looking anymore.

[pa28]

5. The "Cadillac" tax has turned middle class families against the ACA. It should be eliminated.

"Cadillac" means your policy which does what health coverage should do. Pay your medical expenses.

My family now has ever increasing rates and more out of pocket expenses. Close to 5k last year. Single payer Medicare for all is the solution.

[bvar22]

6. I remember one of the Democratic Candidates from 2008...

...who STRONGLY OPPOSED the "Cadillac Tax".

Whatever happened to that guy.
He would have made a good President.



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their Promises.

[merrily]

18. Down the memory hole, please. We are not allowed to hold the past against anyone but Sanders.

As to everything before Hillary's very most recent evolutions, we're supposed to have amnesia.

Whoever said, "The past is prologue" was a fool, making a tempest in TEApot.

Same for the guy who says "The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior."

We're all brand new now. Move On.

[merrily]

10. Repealing the tax on pricey health insurance may be an issue where Bernie and Hillary can find

common ground.

[Demeter]

19. I doubt it

Hillary doesn't do common ground. She always tries to take the dominant position, even on a dung heap.

[merrily]

20. My post was a bit tongue in cheek. If Hillary makes it to the general, she'll

probably find more common ground. ("Senator McCain and I are ready for that 3 a.m. phone call: Senator Obama is not. First time in my life I heard a Democratic primary candidate do something like that to another Democratic primary candidate. And we all know how McCain would likely handle that call. I mean, God forbid our 3 am response be anything but another fucking neocon war.)

[Demeter]

21. I have a hard time joking about Hillary

She's the most dangerous candidate in decades.

[merrily]

23. Hello, preacher.

[PoliticAverse]

24. Clinton has commented on the tax, she's "examing" it...

See: http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/07/hillary-im-examining-obamacares-cadillac-tax-000150

[merrily]

25. Running for President since at least 1991, co-proponent of Billarycare, and she has not yet examined

a feature of Obamacare that was controversial in 2009?

That does not sound the least bit false.

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

27. She's examining the best 'image' position to take. ;-) [nt]

[merrily]

28. Even that shouldn't take six years.