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Watertown Daily Times | Amish families exempt from insurance mandate
WASHINGTON Federal health care reform will require most Northern New Yorkers but not all, it turns out to carry health insurance or risk a fine.
Hundreds of Amish families in the region are likely to be free from that requirement.
The Amish, as well as some other religious sects, are covered by a "religious conscience" exemption, which allows people with religious objections to insurance to opt out of the mandate. It is in both the House and Senate versions of the bill, making its appearance in the final version routine unless there are last-minute objections.
Although the Amish consist of several branches, some more conservative than others, they generally rely upon a community ethic that disdains government assistance. Families rely upon one another, and communities pitch in to help neighbors pay health care expenses
White House, unions reach deal on taxing insurance coverage
Updated 5:30 p.m.
By Lori Montgomery and Michael D. Shear
The White House has reached a tentative agreement with labor leaders to tax high-cost health insurance policies, sources said Thursday. The agreement clears one of the last major obstacles on the path to final passage of comprehensive health care legislation.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said health care negotiators are "very, very close" to an overall deal and hope to have resolved most of the differences between health bills approved by the House and the Senate by day's end. But White House officials privately cautioned that their optimism does not mean that a final health care deal will be formally announced Thursday, and senior lawmakers said they are unlikely to present a compromise package to their members before early next week.
A deal with the unions to tax high-cost plans would represent a major step forward, however. According to a labor source familiar with the talks, the agreement calls for a 40 percent tax surtax on policies that cost more than $24,000 for family coverage and $8,900 for individuals, a slight increase over the levels in a bill approved by the Senate on Christmas Evel. Dental and vision benefits would be exempt, and the threshold for taxation would be raised by at least $3,000 in high-cost states, for high-cost professions and for workers whose policies cost more because of their age or their gender.
