Are you like me tired of all the hoopla regarding every political proposal either party pitches to Americans and the way they pitch them? They obviously — Democrats AND Republicans — think Americans are too stupid to understand proposed legislation, are incapable of reading a bill to garner the truth good or bad in each, and are OK with political hacks trotting out to characterize their side of each proposal as the only good one and that the other side’s thoughts on each proposal means they want all Americans to die. Stop with the insults and constant noise. Just give Americans the facts. Example: even the CBO that is supposed to be non-partisan when releasing their analysis of what the impact of the Senate Healthcare Bill if passed would be predicted a loss of health insurance for 20+ million Americans. (Notice the way they couched that particular point) In truth that statement by the CBO is NOT true. The truth is that 20 million of those who under Obamacare were forced to enroll in Obamacare or pay massive fines/taxes for NOT enrolling will (under the Senate bill if passed) be able to choose to NOT be insured at all. No one is taking away their healthcare. Yet Chuck Schumer and his minions in the Democrat Party and the Dems’ media lapdogs are telling everyone those 20+ million will lose their healthcare. And according to Pelosi, Sanders, and Warren, thousands if not hundreds of thousands will die! That’s just one example.
Do you remember that Obama when touting Obamacare promised premiums would be cut, everyone could keep their doctor, and everyone could keep their health insurance plan if wanted? None of that was true. Do you remember when campaigning, Obama promised he would NEVER raise taxes on middle income Americans? That also was not true. (details in a moment) Where I come from, when someone states something as a fact and that “fact” turns out to be “false,” they have lied to whomever those statements were made. In Cajun vernacular, that means “Sha, that ain’t duh trut.” President Obama lied to Americans. Besides the lies about premium cuts, keeping patient doctors and health plans, Obamacare included billions of dollars in tax increases. Did you know that? And, by the way, if the Senate bill is passed, reconciled with the House bill and then signed into law by President Trump, BILLIONS of dollars in Obamacare taxes will be eliminated. Don’t believe me? Here are FACTS:
In the Senate bill, here is what it does regarding the taxes in Obamacare for middle income Americans that have on the most part been hidden:
- Abolishes the Obamacare Individual Mandate Tax which hits 8 million Americans each year. Combined with the Employer Mandate Tax listed immediately below, this is a $137 billion tax cut.
- Abolishes the Obamacare Employer Mandate Tax. Combined with the Individual Mandate Tax listed immediately above, this is a $137 billion tax cut.
- Abolishes Obamacare’s Medicine Cabinet Tax which hits 20 million Americans with Health Savings Accounts and 30 million Americans with Flexible Spending Accounts. This is a $5.6 billion tax cut.
- Abolishes Obamacare’s Flexible Spending Account tax on 30 million Americans. This is a $18.6 billion tax cut.
- Abolishes Obamacare’s Chronic Care Tax on 10 million Americans with high out of pocket medical expenses. This is a $36 billion tax cut.
- Abolishes Obamacare’s HSA withdrawal tax. This is a $100 million tax cut.
- Abolishes Obamacare’s 10% excise tax on small businesses with indoor tanning services. This is a $600 million tax cut.
- Abolishes the Obamacare health insurance tax. This is a $144.7 billion tax cut.
- Abolishes the Obamacare 3.8% surtax on investment income. This is a $172 billion tax cut.
- Abolishes the Obamacare medical device tax. This is a $19.6 billion tax cut.
- Abolishes the Obamacare tax on prescription medicine. This is a $25.7 billion tax cut.
- Abolishes the Obamacare 0.9 Medicare payroll tax increase. This is a $58.6 billion tax cut.
- Abolishes the Obamacare tax on retiree prescription drug coverage. This is a $1.8 billion tax cut.
- Abolishes the Obamacare remuneration tax increase on insurers. This is a $500 million tax cut.The bill also delays (until 2026) the “Cadillac” tax on employer-provided insurance. This saves taxpayers $66 billion over the next ten years.
SUMMARY OF TAX CUTS: $701 BILLION for Middle Income Americans by abolishing Obamacare. This does NOT consider any decrease in non-tax related items that save just because of deletion of them or price reductions
Here’s what worries me about what’s happening on Capitol Hill: you and I are not hearing these facts from legislators. It seems that everyone has some little “piece” of this legislation just like every other one. A Senator from this state needs federal Medicaid block grant funding to go up a certain amount to make his/her voters happy, while a Senator from an adjoining state needs federal Medicaid block grant funding to be decreased by a certain amount to please his/her voters. And it seems that everyone has an agenda that is separate and different from almost everyone else. Who is taking the lead in all this?
House Speaker Paul Ryan should (as is precedent for every previous House Speaker) take control of the narrative of all GOP House legislators and get them all on the same page without butchering the bill that’s before them. Mitch McConnell should do the same thing in the Senate. That is NOT happening. Ryan DID get the House bill passed. But it is full of compromise and spending dollars that if voters knew the details of there would be voter demonstrations in D.C. The same is true for the pending Senate bill. Why can’t these men and women take up a piece of legislation, discuss, debate, and amend based solely on what is best first for the Nation, secondly for voters in their districts, with the last consideration for their vote to be how it impacts them personally? Whatever happened to those days in Washington? I’ll tell you what happened: drive down K Street in D.C. and look at all the lobbying firms (primarily law firms) full of FORMER Congressmen, Congresswomen, and Senators who are paid millions and who have fat expense accounts to use to garner favor and a vote among current legislators on any pending legislation or future legislation that could be in favor of that lobbyist’s clients.
Power and money are all that matter anymore. Middle Income Americans are way down the pecking order of importance for lawmakers. Of course they’ll all say differently. But if that is not true, why haven’t they passed a repeal and replace bill for President Trump to sign into law? They all campaigned on that promise just as the President did. The answer: they’re still negotiating for THEIR piece of the pie.
