I told you so

This post is for all my friends who said that we need health care reform and that the president's proposal was not going to cost them anything....

Where is the money coming from?

3.8% Medicare tax on investment income.  Investment income includes interest, dividends and rental incomes.  Ahh but you say this is only on people who make over $200,000 a year ($250,000 if you file with your spouse). Guess where the money comes from that goes to finance your house, new car and other things you buy regardless of how much you make?  Remember Ronald Regan and "trickle down" economics.  People who have to pay another 3.8% tax on their investment income are going to demand that they get higher interest rates, which means that the companies who pay interest on borrowed funds will pay higher interest rates and they want to make the same profit as before so they are just going to raise the interest rates they charge their customers..that's you.  Read it in the words of the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation-they expect this one tax alone to generate $30 billion in new tax revenue.

Cap at $2,500 what you can put into a flexible spending account to pay for out of pocket medical expenses.  No income limit on that one if affects everyone.  Well $2,500 will get you about one trip to the emergency room now a days, but don't plan on saving up pre-tax dollars to pay for any big procedures any more.

Tax "high cost" medical plans.  I will confess, I thought this might not be such a bad idea because it would encourage smarter shopping for health care and health insurance and of course this is the one proposal that got watered down and it does not even go into effect until 2018, long after Mr. Obama leaves office.

Penalty (2.5% of income)  for people who don't buy coverage and penalize employers who don't provide insurance $2,000 per employee.  So much for American freedom to choose.

New fees for drug makers, medical device makers and insurance companies.  Why not they are getting a bunch of new business.

Increase from 7.5% to 10% the amount of income you medical expenses have to add up to in a year to get a tax deduction.  Another one that applies to everyone, except if you are over 65.

10% tax on indoor tanning services.  This is expected to generate $2.7 billion in new tax revenue, so that means our country spends $27 billion in indoor tanning services every year.  Personally, I think we deserve this tax.

Finally the bill would limit health insurance companies from taking a tax deduction on anything over $500,000 paid to executives.  How did the fat cat insurance companies ever let that one slip through?

See I told you so!