The Excise Tax Hurts Many:

[amborin]

"Leading economists and 190 Members of Congress agree: the proposed tax on health care benefits is bad public policy that will hurt millions of middle-income and working Americans.

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, Representative Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) and economists Lawrence Mishel and Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute debunked the myths that supporters have been spreading about the excise tax during a media teleconference Jan. 6.

CWA has been leading the fight against the tax on health care plans which is included in the Senate's health care reform plan. The House of Representatives has it right, CWA President Larry Cohen has said, funding health care reform through an employer mandate that requires employers that currently don't pay to provide coverage for workers, and a surtax on the very wealthy.

snip

Bivens pointed out that the tax actually will hit small businesses, older workers and those most in need of health care the hardest, not the so-called "Cadillac" plans that tax supporters want to affect. That's because size and geographic location of the workplace and age and health care needs of workers, not quality of coverage, are the factors that raise overall plan costs, he said.

http://www.cwa-union.org/news/entry/Dont_Tax_Our_Health_Care_


Even with the union amendment, the excise tax is grossly unfair and harmful:

according to this UC Berkeley study:

http://files.cwa-union.org/healthcarevoices/UCBerkeleyExciseTaxReport2010.pdf

[LiberalFighter]

1. What might be consider a "Cadillac Plan" in one region

may be a "Chevy Plan" in another region.

[ProSense]

2. The CWA supports reform

‘Health Care Can't Wait’.

Mar 11, 2010

Thousands of union members and health care activists rallied outside a DC hotel to put the health insurance industry execs meeting inside on notice: "we'll do whatever it takes to get real health care reform."

No more skyrocketing costs, no more raising rates by 40 or 50 or 60 percent, no more discriminatory practices that deny people the health care coverage they need – that's our message to the health insurance industry.

A contingent of CWAers, including Sec.-Treas. Jeff Rechenbach, were part of the crowd that circled the hotel, as protestors shouted out "health care can't wait" and "blocking health care is a crime." The rally was sponsored by Health Care for America Now.

[amborin]

3. yeah, so does afl-cio; their leadership sold them out; doesn't change the facts that HCR is harmful

[ProSense]

4. More

We worked hard to make certain that all middle income and working Americans are better protected, in these ways and more:

• Beginning in 2013, a higher threshold at which plans are taxed, $24,000 for families and $8,900 for single coverage, affecting everyone.
  
  
• A higher and more accurate tax threshold adjusted for age, sex and high-risk professions, affecting everyone in these categories.
  
  
• A phased-in exemption for dental and vision plan coverage from the cost of the plan, benefiting everyone.

State and local employees and workers covered by collective bargaining agreements are allowed a transition period so that legally binding agreements can be modified if necessary. For these groups, the tax goes into effect in 2018.

link

And its now even higher under the President's proposal: $27,500 for families and $10,200 for individuals.

[Name removed]

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[daa]

6. Try having cancer or diabetes and then tell me

how fu*king Cadillac and basic worthless health plan is that costs that much. You think old, sick people get their insurance for free?

And then after the Medicare cuts no doctor will take you when you turn 65 anyhow.