It seems like the idea of taxing employer-provided healthcare in order to finance a massive take-over of said healthcare by Uncle Sam is gaining traction. Here's what Robert Reich has to say:
"According to the Congressional Budget Office, taxing all employee health benefits would yield a whopping $246 billion every year. Even limiting the tax to higher-income employees would go a long way to funding universal health care. Employer-provided health insurance is the biggest tax break in the whole federal income tax system.
Tax-free employer-provided health care is also, in effect, the government-backed health insurance system we now have. It now covers three-fifths of the American population under 65. Seventy percent of the 253 million Americans with health insurance receive at least some of it through their employers."
Lately we've been hearing about all those "wealthy executives" who get "Cadillac health plans." Reich joins in as follow:
"Top executives and their families get gold-plated plans guaranteeing top-notch medical attention for just about every risk imaginable, along with extra coverage in retirement."
(For more on "Cadillac" health plans, click here)
And here comes who gets it in the neck -- "The good news is that a program providing universal health care doesn’t need the full $246 billion a year generated if every employee now receiving tax-free health benefits had to start paying taxes on them. Obama’s health care reserve fund needs around $650 billion over ten years. So a sensible and politically feasible alternative is to limit tax-free employer-provided health benefits to workers whose incomes are under, say, $100,000 a year, and subject those with higher incomes to progressively higher taxes on them."
That's right -- higher taxes for Americans with employer-provided healthcare who earn over $100,00 a year.
Do you feel like a "wealthy executive" yet?
"According to the Congressional Budget Office, taxing all employee health benefits would yield a whopping $246 billion every year. Even limiting the tax to higher-income employees would go a long way to funding universal health care. Employer-provided health insurance is the biggest tax break in the whole federal income tax system.
Tax-free employer-provided health care is also, in effect, the government-backed health insurance system we now have. It now covers three-fifths of the American population under 65. Seventy percent of the 253 million Americans with health insurance receive at least some of it through their employers."
Lately we've been hearing about all those "wealthy executives" who get "Cadillac health plans." Reich joins in as follow:
"Top executives and their families get gold-plated plans guaranteeing top-notch medical attention for just about every risk imaginable, along with extra coverage in retirement."
(For more on "Cadillac" health plans, click here)
And here comes who gets it in the neck -- "The good news is that a program providing universal health care doesn’t need the full $246 billion a year generated if every employee now receiving tax-free health benefits had to start paying taxes on them. Obama’s health care reserve fund needs around $650 billion over ten years. So a sensible and politically feasible alternative is to limit tax-free employer-provided health benefits to workers whose incomes are under, say, $100,000 a year, and subject those with higher incomes to progressively higher taxes on them."
That's right -- higher taxes for Americans with employer-provided healthcare who earn over $100,00 a year.
Do you feel like a "wealthy executive" yet?
