The Democrats in the House are hard at work on healthcare reform. A major roadblock for Obamacare is the price tag of over a trillion dollars. The House legislation created on Tuesday will penalize employers for not providing coverage.
The bill, to be debated in committee beginning later this week, would require insurance companies to offer coverage, without exceptions or higher premiums in cases of pre-existing medical conditions.
Their proposed source of funding would come from the rich, but also at the expense of the old and poor who already receive federally funded healthcare.
Financing would come from a federal surtax on the upper income – up to 5.4 percent on the income of taxpayers making more than $1 million a year – as well as hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts in projected Medicare and Medicaid spending.
We can look forward to taxing the most productive members of society while rationing health services so everyone receives the bare minimum. While this bill will certainly be subject to other changes and amendments its basic structure is all but comforting. <more>