-By Warner Todd Huston
We may know by the end of the week how the Democrats are claiming they will pay for their healthcare plans. News out of the House of Representatives is that they will introduce their bill on either Thursday or Friday of this week.
In the mean time, on Tuesday a caucus meeting with Energy and Commerce Chair Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) will be held on Tuesday to discuss the funding plans. This will be followed by a brief by House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) while Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) will speak on Friday. Rangel is last because his committee is in charge of finding the tax increases that will pay for the plan.
Democrats also say that the “public option” will be a prominent feature of their bill and will be similar to the current Medicare system.
Taxes on soda pop, a national sales tax, new taxes on healthcare benefits from employers, and a surtax on people making more than $250,000 annually are all being considered to help pay for the healthcare “reform.”
If Democrats settle on taxing healthcare benefits from employers, they will find a tough road to get the plan passed as the majority of Americans are against such a tax.
A recent Quinnipiac poll found that 58% of respondents feel that government run healthcare is a bad thing and that 72% do not want to pay more than $500 a year of their own money to “fix healthcare.”
The poll also found that of the 88% of respondents that already have healthcare 49% say they are very satisfied with their plans and 36% said they are somewhat satisfied. Once these voters realize that Obamacare will take away their current healthcare, there will be a lot of upset Americans.
In fact, in June, a CNN poll found that 58% are very concerned that their current level of healthcare will be reduced by government meddling.
If the Democrats introduce high taxing plans the middle class will surely revolt from Obamacare.
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
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