is going to force you to get medical insurance or pay a penalty of 2.5% of your income:scared This madman is on a rampage and has to be stopped, tax, tax, tax...Isn't this country about choices and rights? This is just another way to grow the economy from the bottom up, at this rate there will not be any rich, everyone will be lower class just like Cuba, welcome to the Socialist Republic of The United States
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House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled their proposal for a sweeping health care bill that would require all Americans to buy affordable insurance. The cost of the proposed legislation would be paid for by taxes on wealthy Americans.
The bill would impose a 5.4 percent surtax on couples earning more than $1 million annually and a 1.5 percent tax on couples earning between $500,000 and $1 million. Households earning more than $350,000 would get hit with a 1 percent tax.
House Democrats want to require individuals and employers to get health insurance -- or pay a penalty.
For individuals, the penalty would be 2.5 percent of income -- but it could go no higher than the average cost of health insurance.
The penalty for employers would be much higher -- 8 percent of a worker's wages -- with an exemption for small businesses. Business groups are strongly opposing an employer requirement.
The House plan lacked total cost figures. House leaders want to quickly move the legislation through three committees and to a floor vote before the congressional recess in August. President Obama is pressing the House and Senate to vote this summer on the bill.
Not to be outdone, House Republicans will introduce their own version of a health care bill, which has little chance of passing because they are outnumbered.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared Monday that the House will be on pace to pass the legislation before members of Congress take their summer break next month.
But the odds of getting a health care bill passed through both chambers of Congress before 2010 are growing longer.
Moving forcefully on his top domestic priority, Obama told Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Finance Committee, that he wants legislation ready by week's end, according to numerous Democratic officials.
These officials said Obama made his wishes known directly to Baucus, D-Mont., on Monday at a White House meeting attended by administration officials and senior Democratic lawmakers.
Scott Mulhauser, a spokesman for Baucus, said the senator has stressed that his committee will be ready when it has completed a proposal "that can ensure quality, affordable care for every American, lower costs -- and pass the Senate."
Despite objections from conservative and moderate Democrats in the House, prospects for quick action are better there than in the Senate.
The legislation that the House Democrats are expected to introduce Tuesday would prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage or charging higher premiums on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions. And it would spend billions of dollars subsidizing lower-income individuals and families who cannot afford coverage in an attempt to cut dramatically into the ranks of the uninsured.
Its total price tag remains unknown, but to comply with another presidential priority, it would rely on cuts in Medicare and Medicaid to begin slowing the rate of growth in health care spending overall.
The measure is expected to impose a fee on large companies that fail to offer insurance; individuals who refuse to purchase affordable insurance will have to pay a penalty.
A new income tax on the wealthy, estimated to raise more than $500 billion over the next decade, would help pay for the bill.
Efforts at completing the measure have been slowed in recent days by criticism from a group of moderate and conservative Democrats known as the Blue Dog Coalition. Obama met with a Blue Dog delegation on Monday evening, and Rep. Henry Waxman of California, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, sat down with them separately.
Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., head of the Blue Dogs' health care task force, said later that some of the group's concerns were being addressed -- but not enough that they can support the House measure without further improvements.
Ross noted that more than a half-dozen members of the group have seats on Waxman's committee, enough to hold up passage.
He said that in one concession to the Blue Dogs, Democratic leaders have indicated that they're increasing the size of the exemption for small businesses from a requirement for employers to provide health care to their employees. The exemption is expected to increase from businesses with payrolls of $100,000 to those with payrolls of $250,000, Ross said, which he characterized as "probably not enough."
The group still has concerns about Medicare payments to doctors and other health care providers, rural health and other issues.
In the Senate Finance Committee some highly controversial issues remain unresolved, including how to pay for the bill and a Democratic demand for the government to sell insurance in competition with private industry, a proposal Republicans oppose strongly. Unlike the other congressional committees working on health care, Finance members have been laboring to produce a bipartisan bill.
A second Senate committee, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, was pushing to complete work Tuesday on a partisan bill that would create a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers and require employers to provide coverage -- but probably could attract little or no Republican support.
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House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled their proposal for a sweeping health care bill that would require all Americans to buy affordable insurance. The cost of the proposed legislation would be paid for by taxes on wealthy Americans.
The bill would impose a 5.4 percent surtax on couples earning more than $1 million annually and a 1.5 percent tax on couples earning between $500,000 and $1 million. Households earning more than $350,000 would get hit with a 1 percent tax.
House Democrats want to require individuals and employers to get health insurance -- or pay a penalty.
For individuals, the penalty would be 2.5 percent of income -- but it could go no higher than the average cost of health insurance.
The penalty for employers would be much higher -- 8 percent of a worker's wages -- with an exemption for small businesses. Business groups are strongly opposing an employer requirement.
The House plan lacked total cost figures. House leaders want to quickly move the legislation through three committees and to a floor vote before the congressional recess in August. President Obama is pressing the House and Senate to vote this summer on the bill.
Not to be outdone, House Republicans will introduce their own version of a health care bill, which has little chance of passing because they are outnumbered.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared Monday that the House will be on pace to pass the legislation before members of Congress take their summer break next month.
But the odds of getting a health care bill passed through both chambers of Congress before 2010 are growing longer.
Moving forcefully on his top domestic priority, Obama told Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Finance Committee, that he wants legislation ready by week's end, according to numerous Democratic officials.
These officials said Obama made his wishes known directly to Baucus, D-Mont., on Monday at a White House meeting attended by administration officials and senior Democratic lawmakers.
Scott Mulhauser, a spokesman for Baucus, said the senator has stressed that his committee will be ready when it has completed a proposal "that can ensure quality, affordable care for every American, lower costs -- and pass the Senate."
Despite objections from conservative and moderate Democrats in the House, prospects for quick action are better there than in the Senate.
The legislation that the House Democrats are expected to introduce Tuesday would prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage or charging higher premiums on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions. And it would spend billions of dollars subsidizing lower-income individuals and families who cannot afford coverage in an attempt to cut dramatically into the ranks of the uninsured.
Its total price tag remains unknown, but to comply with another presidential priority, it would rely on cuts in Medicare and Medicaid to begin slowing the rate of growth in health care spending overall.
The measure is expected to impose a fee on large companies that fail to offer insurance; individuals who refuse to purchase affordable insurance will have to pay a penalty.
A new income tax on the wealthy, estimated to raise more than $500 billion over the next decade, would help pay for the bill.
Efforts at completing the measure have been slowed in recent days by criticism from a group of moderate and conservative Democrats known as the Blue Dog Coalition. Obama met with a Blue Dog delegation on Monday evening, and Rep. Henry Waxman of California, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, sat down with them separately.
Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., head of the Blue Dogs' health care task force, said later that some of the group's concerns were being addressed -- but not enough that they can support the House measure without further improvements.
Ross noted that more than a half-dozen members of the group have seats on Waxman's committee, enough to hold up passage.
He said that in one concession to the Blue Dogs, Democratic leaders have indicated that they're increasing the size of the exemption for small businesses from a requirement for employers to provide health care to their employees. The exemption is expected to increase from businesses with payrolls of $100,000 to those with payrolls of $250,000, Ross said, which he characterized as "probably not enough."
The group still has concerns about Medicare payments to doctors and other health care providers, rural health and other issues.
In the Senate Finance Committee some highly controversial issues remain unresolved, including how to pay for the bill and a Democratic demand for the government to sell insurance in competition with private industry, a proposal Republicans oppose strongly. Unlike the other congressional committees working on health care, Finance members have been laboring to produce a bipartisan bill.
A second Senate committee, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, was pushing to complete work Tuesday on a partisan bill that would create a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers and require employers to provide coverage -- but probably could attract little or no Republican support.
