A Reading Guide to Democrats’ Health Care Takeover
The Senate Republican Policy Committee has compiled a list of important page numbers and provisions in the 2,733-page Senate health care bill,[i] which serves as the framework for enacting President Obama’s health care proposal:[ii]
Page 269—Section 1411 includes language requiring verification of income for individuals wishing to receive federal health care subsidies under the bill. While the bill includes a requirement for applicants to verify their citizenship, it does not include a similar requirement to verify applicants’ identity, thus encouraging identity fraud.
Page 322—Section 1501 imposes a 2 percent tax on all individuals who do not purchase “government-approved” health insurance. Although the President has proposed certain changes to the tax’s structure from the Senate bill as passed, this tax still would apply on individuals with incomes under $250,000, breaking a central promise of then-Senator Obama’s presidential campaign.[iii]
Page 346—Section 1513 imposes a “tax on jobs” for firms that cannot afford to purchase “government-approved” health coverage. According to an analysis by Harvard Professor Kate Baicker, such a tax would place millions “at substantial risk of unemployment.”[iv] President Obama recently proposed nearly tripling this job-killing tax, from $750 to $2,000 per employee.
Page 392—Section 2001 prohibits states from making changes to their Medicaid programs, while simultaneously requiring them to enroll 15 million new individuals in Medicaid coverage.[v] According to the Congressional Budget Office, these mandates would cost states $35 billion in the bill’s first ten years alone.[vi] Likewise, the President’s proposal includes a vast expansion of an under-funded Medicaid program that would also impose tens of billions of dollars in unfunded mandates on already cash-strapped states in future years.
Page 854—Section 3201 cuts nearly $120 billion from Medicare Advantage plans, jeopardizing millions of seniors’ existing coverage—and the White House proposal would cut even more.[vii]
Page 982—Section 3403 creates a new board of federal bureaucrats, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, required to make binding recommendations to reduce costs for the Medicare program.
Page 2000—Section 9015 imposes additional job-killing taxes, in the form of an unprecedented increase in the Medicare payroll tax. The tax is not indexed to inflation, meaning it will hit more and more middle-class American families over time—yet the President has proposed expanding this new tax to dividend and capital gains income as a way to pay for even more federal spending.
Page 2070—Section 10104(c) requires the use of federal dollars to subsidize plans that cover abortions—even if specific states opt-out of offering such plans on their insurance Exchanges.
[i] Senate-passed bill text available at http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h3590/text.
[ii] White House plan available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/summary-presidents-proposal.pdf.
[iii] Presidential campaign speech in Dover, NH, September 12, 2008, relevant excerpt available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8erePM8V5U.
[iv] Katherine Baicker and Helen Levy, “Employer Health Insurance Mandates and the Risk of Unemployment,” NBER Working Paper 13528, October 2007, http://www.nber.org/papers/w13528.pdf.
[v] Congressional Budget Office, score of H.R. 3590 incorporating the Manager’s Amendment, December 19, 2009, http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10868/12-19-Reid_Letter_Managers_Correction_Noted.pdf.
[vi] Congressional Budget office, Letter to the Honorable Paul Ryan, January 21, 2010, http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/109xx/doc10992/hr3590_RyanLtr.pdf.
[vii] A formal score of the White House proposals is not yet available, but multiple press reports indicate a higher level of Medicare Advantage cuts; see for instance “Obama Health Care Bill Revision Seeks Dem Unity,” USA Today February 24, 2010, http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-02-22-health-care-revision_N.htm.