(Pelosi:) Healthcare taxes could shift to deficit reduction

[sabra]

Source: The Hill

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that Democrats could use a proposed new tax on the wealthy to pay down the deficit, if there's money left over after funding healthcare reform.

Pelosi (D-Calif.) said if more savings are found than the initial amount estimated to help offset the $1 trillion-plus healthcare plan, the tax revenues carved out to offset the bill’s cost could be funneled toward deficit reduction.

As part of their healthcare proposal, Democrats included $544 billion in taxes targeting the wealthiest 1.2 percent of taxpayers. The remainder of the $1.04 trillion price tag would be offset through changes to Medicare and Medicaid designed to save the government hundreds of billions of dollars.

“I hope we can change that percentage and get much more coming from savings,” Pelosi said. “In fact, I believe that all of the cost of the healthcare reform bill can come from squeezing more savings out of the system."


Read more: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/healthcare-taxes-could-shift-to-deficit-reduction-2009-07-16.html

[Joanne98]

1. That's a great idea.

[glinda]

2. The majority of people have made the wealthy wealthy. I think it a good idea that

there is a "return" of both affordable and reliable coverage on Health Care for everyone and on stabilizing the economy of the Country. If the wealthiest do not understand this, then they need to be reminded of this through Government guidance.

[sutz12]

3. i just hope that these are "in addition to" the expiring of the Bush tax cuts..

Not "instead of." We still need both IMO.

:shrug:

[quidam56]

4. ... the best health care in the world...

As a former health care giver, I am shocked and saddened to see what has become of health care in America. $ 1. 4 million is being spent per day in DC by the health care lobbyists so your elected representative is getting taken care of and has quality health care we pay for and can't afford ourselves for our families, I know what is deemed, defended and supported in Tennessee and Virginia as quality health care and clearly profit care comes ahead of patient care. http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=62 MRSA ( methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureas ) is infesting our communities because filthy, uncaring hospitals and emergency rooms are breeding them and spreading them into our schools, homes, restaurants. How many more Americans' will be diseased or die while 74 % of Americans' are begging for health care reform ? More people died in America last year from MRSA complications than AIDS. When MRSA and a flu bug start mixing, it won't be pretty and we are being infected by the very health care system we depend on and trust to keep us safe and healthy. If we had "the best health care" in the world then why does RAM ( Remote Area Medical ) come to Wise County, Virginia year after year so people can go to the fairgrounds and stand in a line like cattle in the hot July sun just to see a health care provider ??? America's health care system is a disgraceful sham !

[Odin2005]

5. Go, Nancy, go!

The House Dems are getting spines. Now we just have to get the Senate Dems to follow them.

[No Elephants]

7. Thank you for using "spines."

:D

[Zhade]

6. Universal Insurance Care hasn't even passed, and they're already planning to rob it blind.

Wow.

[OHMyGoodness1]

8. Healthcare - Sanity and Common Sense Please

Once again, American taxpayers are faced with a powerful
politician trying to shove what they believe we need down our
throats regardless of content, cost, potential impact, or
desire for it. There is no question but that something needs
to be done to slow or stop the ever-rising cost of healthcare
in our country. There is no question but that all Americans
should have access to decent healthcare at a reasonable cost.
The problem is that once again we hear the rants and cries of
our politicians that we have no time to read the bill before
passing it. We have no time to analyze the bill in question or
to do reasonable cost/benefits analysis. We have no time to
properly assess how much this bill will cost our children, our
grandchildren, and us. We have no time to search for or look
at alternatives. This attitude has already cost us trillions
of dollars in current and future spending commitments. It is
time for the American Taxpayer to stand-up and say NO! Ms.
Pelosi - you cannot ram this bill through until we have taken
a REALLY good look at it, removed the pork, assessed the short
and long term costs, measured the potential benefits, and
understood why this is the best plan. It is our money Ms.
Pelosi and we have a right to know and understand where it is
going and why? The bill may ultimately be passed exactly as
written but not until we have had the chance to see if we
think we will get our money's worth from it!
The fact that a politician is elected does not mean that they
have a blank check backed by taxpayer dollars to be spent as
fast and as much as they see fit. The taxpayers backing that
check have certain rights. Among those is the right to know
and understand why their money is being spent and what their
money is being spent on. When any politician brings a six or
eight hundred page bill to the floor and says "we need
this passed today", that is simply unreasonable and
should raise the suspicions of all taxpayers. If Ms. Pelosi
went into a department store to buy a new outfit and a clerk
handed her a box containing an unseen outfit and demanded she
pay for it, I feel sure that Ms. Pelosi would view this as
nothing short of preposterous; yet, that is exactly what she
is asking us to do. It may be that this is the best healthcare
plan anyone has ever devised and one that every taxpayer in
America will exuberantly support . . . but, if we are not
given the opportunity to take a good look at the content of
the plan, we are buying an unseen outfit in a box! We need to
see if the outfit is one we will be comfortable wearing and if
it is our size.