Sweeping Health Care Plan Passes House
Congratulations, Democrats. You passed a bill that liberals hate, feminists hate and all Republicans hate. We all know you're gonna strip out all the provisions about not using taxpayer funds to cover abortions. You want taxpayers to pay for abortions, because if the taxpayer isn't footing the bill, it's not a "choice," don't you know.
I'm curious how you're going to make going to jail for being uninsured sound like anything other than penalizing people for not having insurance. This would be a first in our country. From Just One Minute:
Those penalties won't affect the long-term unemployed, who are heavily subsidized in any case. However, someone who works from January to June and is then laid off had better arrange for insurance - over the tax year, the person will show plenty of income, even if take-home cash flow is scarce from July to December. This person's actual income in the second half of the year may be zero, but if they don't have insurance they will owe a 2.5% penalty on their earnings from January to June.
Does that sound like a tax on the middle class? Hey, it's for our own good.
Tom goes on to point out that the bill is a job killer with a link to Steven Pearlstein.
Economists agree that in the long run, however, the increased cost for employee health benefits would be passed on to the employees themselves in the form of lower wages and salaries. That's what happened economy-wide in recent decades, as average wages stagnated while the cost of health insurance skyrocketed. If the same holds true for small businesses, then requiring them to provide health insurance should result in no job loss at all.
No job loss at all! Of course, the fact that you can't get a job in this economy doesn't count. Sorta like the government accounting where giving a few people a raise counts as "jobs saved."
So, see, the middle class will still be paying for this monstrosity, be forced to buy insurance they may not want, and face jail time if they can't afford it. But remember, it's for your own good!
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