Health Care Bill Is A Huge Tax Heist

Health Care Bill Is A Huge Tax Heist

Boston Globe analysis identifies at least 19 new taxes in Obamacare legislation



Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, December 22, 2009

A Boston Globe analysis of the health care bill which Democrats are trying to ram through before Christmas illustrates how the legislation is a gigantic tax heist which will further economically cripple Americans already laboring under the worst financial crisis since the great depression.

H.R. 3590 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is set to be voted on by the Senate on Christmas Eve, contains a raft of pork barrel and tax hikes. The legislation has not even been read in full by many of the representatives eager to make it the law, including fervent advocate John Kerry.

“While it would take days to read the entire bill, my cursory review of the legislation identified at least 19 tax increases,” writes the Globe’s Jamie Downey.

Chief amongst those tax hikes is the one outlined in Section 1501 – Requirement to maintain minimum essential coverage. Individuals who don’t maintain mandatory health insurance will face an annual tax penalty of $750, an amount set to escalate even higher in future.

Section 9013 reduces the amount that can be deducted as expenses for people incurring significant health costs. This will directly impact the living standards of individuals already struggling under the burden of long-term illnesses.

With income taxes already on the increase to pay for the mass looting of the American taxpayer in the form of the multi-trillion dollar bailout, with the highest rate already increasing by 3.6 percent, a further tax on Medicare will be imposed on individuals making in excess of $200,000 and married couples making over $250,000 under Section 9015.




The government will also collect a new 5 percent tax on voluntary cosmetic procedures under Section 9017. Since in other state-run health care systems, such as Canada, “voluntary procedures” is a term also applied to people with life-threatening conditions who sometimes have to wait 18 months to get treatment, the eventual scope of this new tax can only be imagined.

While the new taxes on individuals are bad enough, the penalties imposed on pharmaceutical corporations, health insurers and employers are perhaps worse because the tax hikes will undoubtedly passed on to the general public in the form of higher costs.

Section 9008 imposes an annual fee on branded prescription pharmaceutical manufacturers and importers, which equates to a a $2.3 billion excise tax on the pharmaceutical industry based on market share starting immediately. Prescription drugs, which will not be free for Americans under “free” health care, will soar in cost as a result of this new tax.

Section 9009 imposes a $2 billion excise tax on the medical device industry. This will increase the cost of life-saving technology and equipment, meaning hospitals will buy fewer devices, meaning longer waiting lists for vital treatment and more deaths as a result of these delays.

An annual excise tax of $6.7 billion on health insurance providers under Section 9010 will also jack up prices.

“How can the imposition of $11 billion in excise taxes (section 9008, 9009 and 9010) on the health care industry reduce costs to consumers? Does anyone else suspect these companies will have to pass these costs over to consumers?” writes Downey.