On Friday evening Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent out an analysis of the health provisions of the House Republican payroll tax proposal in an e-mail pasted below. Of particular note is the following sentence: Increases and other changes made to the premium structure of Medicare raise fundamental and difficult issues for the program and certainly should never be considered in the context of addressing short term issues."
This sentence obliquely refers to the proposals for additional means-testing included in the House Republican payroll tax bill which come directly from the deficit reduction proposal <http://1.usa.gov/n1wRY4> the President submitted to the Joint Committee earlier this fall.
Theres a good reason why House Democrats might want to be circumspect about criticizing the means-testing proposal because their position results in what can most charitably be described as feats of tautological jujitsu:
- Congress SHOULD raise taxes on the rich" to pay for a short-term payroll tax extension but SHOULD NOT take away taxpayer subsidies for wealthy Medicare beneficiaries to pay for a short-term doc fix" extension;
- Congress SHOULD pass the tax increases the President proposed in his September submission to the Joint Committee right away but SHOULD CERTAINLY" NOT pass proposals to reduce wealthy beneficiaries Medicare subsidies included by the President in the same September proposal without months or years more study;
- Choosing not to subsidize the health benefits of billionaires like George Soros is a difficult" decision but raising taxes by trillions of dollars is easy; and
- Taking away wealthy Medicare beneficiaries subsidies raises fundamental…issues for the program" but raising taxes on job creators in the middle of a sluggish economy raises no concerns fundamental or otherwise about the impact on stubbornly high unemployment.
Its clear that Medicare is in the midst of a fiscal crisis the program is projected to suffer a record deficit <http://1.usa.gov/hYKCf6> of nearly $40 billion this fiscal year a greater deficit than that faced by Greece <http://on.wsj.com/psUMA0> . Even President Obama has admitted <http://1.usa.gov/pezPfy> that if you look at the numbers then Medicare in particular will run out of money and we will not be able to sustain that program no matter how much taxes go up. I mean its not an option for us to just sit by and do nothing." Yet House Democrats have articulated a philosophical position on which they are apparently willing to fight: The holy right of people like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to have their health benefits subsidized by federal taxpayers.
So much for fighting for the middle class.
Analysis of House Republican Payroll Tax Plan: Health Provisions
Today the Democratic staff of the House Energy & Commerce Committee released analyses of several provisions in the House Republican payroll tax plan.
The extension of the health provisions contained in the House Republican bill are ones that are necessary particularly the provision addressing Medicare physician payments to ensure doctors in Medicare dont face large reductions. In addition there are protections in Medicaid for low-income Medicare beneficiaries who need assistance participating in the Medicare program and low-income families transitioning into the workforce. There are a number of other extenders such as an extension of the exceptions process to outpatient therapy caps in Medicare. We support addressing these issues.
Unfortunately the provisions used to pay for these provisions will do damage to our healthcare system. Undermining the tax credits and subsidies available under the Affordable Care Act to help make insurance affordable will result in 170000 additional people becoming uninsured. Reducing our commitment to public health and prevention activities undermines efforts to combat conditions like diabetes heart disease cancer and obesity in the most effective way…by preventing them in the first place. Finally increases and other changes made to the premium structure of Medicare raise fundamental and difficult issues for the program and certainly should never be considered in the context of addressing short term issues.
A detailed section-by-section summary of the health-related provisions is available here <http://democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/sites/default/files/documents/HealthProvisions_Factsheet_12.09.11.pdf>
