Adding Insult to Injury: The Baucus Health Plan Imposes New Taxes on the Sick
About half of affected households have incomes low enough that they would qualify for the subsidies for which these taxes are intended to pay. Despite the President's promise that families with incomes under $250,000 would not pay higher taxes, 98.8 percent of those affected by this tax increase have incomes below $213,800.[2]
Affected households have higher health expenses because they have pre-existing conditions or buy health insurance themselves because they do not have access to employer-sponsored insurance. This group includes over 250,000 people who are disabled or in very poor health.[3] By any reasonable standard, health care reform should be directed at helping precisely these households. However, the Baucus plan would make them pay extra--to foot the bill for subsidies to healthy households with lower health care expenses.
About half of affected households have incomes low enough that they would qualify for the subsidies for which these taxes are intended to pay. Despite the President's promise that families with incomes under $250,000 would not pay higher taxes, 98.8 percent of those affected by this tax increase have incomes below $213,800.[2]
Affected households have higher health expenses because they have pre-existing conditions or buy health insurance themselves because they do not have access to employer-sponsored insurance. This group includes over 250,000 people who are disabled or in very poor health.[3] By any reasonable standard, health care reform should be directed at helping precisely these households. However, the Baucus plan would make them pay extra--to foot the bill for subsidies to healthy households with lower health care expenses.
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