Regardless of your views on government involvement in health care, perhaps we can all agree that once politicians get into the act anything is possible including the wartering down of key provisions of pending legislation. Consider the all important 40% excise tax on high cost health plans. Already, the groups exempt from the tax are growing the latest union to be exempt is the longshoreman. Miners, some fisherman, electrical lineman and even the 17 states with the highest health costs get a deal on this one.
So, you have to ask yourself if this provision is so important in controling health care costs, how can we have all these exceptions and still reach the revenue and cost control goals?
Of course, the answer is you can’t but then again this tax achieving it’s stated goal was never a reality any more that the assumption that lowering the value of health benefits by employers to avoid the tax would translate to higher wages.
For those of us who shall we say have reservations about the ability of Congress to keep it’s hands off the final legislation for more than a month, this deal and others contained in the legislation give a good indication of what is to come and it is not higher quality, affordable health care.
State legislatures have been adding to the health care cost problem for decades with special interest benefit mandates and other restrictions and rules. Is there any reason to believe Congress will be different (although perhaps more stealth)?
Americans should be concerned what is lurking behing secret doors number 1,2 or 3.
You have to give Congress credit though, nobody will ever know what this all costs or how much they are truly paying for “reform.”
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