Have the changes to the excise tax changed your opinion of it?

[SpartanDem]

Labor leaders have scheduled a conference call for 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Here are the outlines of what they will announce, according to a source familiar with the agreement:

— The threshold will be raised to $24,000 for family plans, $8,900 for individuals

— The tax won't kick in until Jan. 1, 2018, for some collective bargaining agreements, and state and local government workers.

— There would be further increases to the threshold for plans with older workers and women, which would benefit unions with a high proportion of female membership.

— Dental and vision plans would be exempted.

-- The index remains the same as it was under the Senate bill, which is inflation plus 1 percent.

[doc03]

1. Looks like little change to me. I retire this year so

it won't effect me since it doesn't kick in until 2018. Richard Trumka is going to be about as popular as the Swine flu back in his West Virginia coal fields.

[ProSense]

2. The compromise shows clearly

that people weren't interested in the unions' position. They simply relished opposition to the bill.

[HughMoran]

3. That's inherently obvious to anybody who's been around here for a while

Opinions have nothing to do with the Excise Tax - heck, they have nothing to do with the Healthcare Bill at all. It's a reflex now - kind of makes me laugh, if you know what I mean.

[DJ13]

4. The whole idea of taxing the policies instead of those who make the most

Isnt changed by excluding certain groups until 2018.

Its still a dumb assed idea.

[grantcart]

5. Think about it folks

If you think that the health insurance industry should be able to consistently increase cost at 1% above inflation then you are saying that the percent of GNP for health care should be unlimited.

My objection is that it shouldn't be at +1 inflation.

Even that small amount of increase over inflation means that you agree that health care should have an increasing and unlimited percent of GNP.

[rufus dog]

6. Hugh hit on it above

It has all become reflexive and has the potential to be very dangerous.

To the best of my abilities I try to understand where people are coming from. The last year sucked as a whole. Many posters are out of work, paying off high debt, doing without raises. Hell, I made about 1/5 in 2009 compared to 2006. Does that make me post that 2006 was better than 2009, thus I want things back to the way the were in '06? From a financial viewpoint, hell yes, but no way in hell do I want a republican to ever be in control again. Because a short term gain does not make up for a long term loss, and my personal gain had nothing to do with repuke policies, (well a little bit because I took it out on my repub owner for Bush's election in '04 via a very beneficial contract) and the current financial situation can be directly tied to repub policies.

A lot of people seem to want the payback immediately and have no interest in incremental gains, thus the daily comments "he is no different than bush," and the belittling of every victory by Obama.

As for your comment about healthcare % to GNP, that was rarely brought up during the entire media debate. From a competitive standpoint that is the KEY question. So is the first step to stop the increase or is it to drop it by 8 points. To me the first step is always to stop the bleeding, then heal the patient.

[quiller4]

7. Not some all collective bargaining agreements

No benefits that are part of a collective bargaining agreement will be subject to the tax until 2018 or the expiration of said agreement.

Additionally some high risk occupations like mining, fire fighting and law enforcement are permanently exempt.