Senate Health Care Bill Is Bigger than House Bill

and probably contains just about everything they wished for all along.

Not to be outdone by Pelosi, Harry Reid has unveiled his 2,074-page health care "reform" bill. Not to be discouraged by the sheer size, I've started peeking in. The Table of Contents alone constitutes 14 pages.

This bill is supposed to reduce the federal deficit. How? By sucking up the money from you, the taxpayers. So the government may or may not reduce the deficit which has suddenly become important (even Obama mentioned it), but you can be sure it will cost you more, as that's where the money for the government comes from.

The following is taken from the Table of Contents of the bill (I found the link to the entire bill from CNN). It looks like a list of revenue sources to fund this monstrosity of a "reform". [My quick find is in the square bracket. I will add as I read more.]

TITLE IX—REVENUE PROVISIONS
Subtitle A—Revenue Offset Provisions

Sec. 9001. Excise tax on high cost employer-sponsored health coverage.
[Tax equal to 40% of "excess benefit", which is defined as any monthly benefit in excess of 1/12 of $8500 for self-only plan, 1/12 of $23000 for coverage other than self-only.]

Sec. 9002. Inclusion of cost of employer-sponsored health coverage on W–2.
Sec. 9003. Distributions for medicine qualified only if for prescribed drug or insulin.

Sec. 9004. Increase in additional tax on distributions from HSAs and Archer
MSAs not used for qualified medical expenses.
[IRS codes are modified to increase the tax from 10% to 20% on HSAs, 15% to 20% for Archer MSAs.]

Sec. 9005. Limitation on health flexible spending arrangements under cafeteria
plans.
Sec. 9006. Expansion of information reporting requirements.

Sec. 9007. Additional requirements for charitable hospitals.
[If they fail to qualify, they will have to pay $50,000 tax.]

Sec. 9008. Imposition of annual fee on branded prescription pharmaceutical
manufacturers and importers.
[If the sales receipt is less than $5 million, 0% of the receipt is taxable. More than $5 million but less than $125 million, 10%. More than $125 million but less than $225 million, 40%. More than $225 million but less than $400 million, 75%. Over $400 million, 100% of the receipt is taxable. They call it "annual fee", but it is an excise tax.]

Sec. 9009. Imposition of annual fee on medical device manufacturers and importers.
Sec. 9010. Imposition of annual fee on health insurance providers.
Sec. 9011. Study and report of effect on veterans health care.
Sec. 9012. Elimination of deduction for expenses allocable to Medicare Part D
subsidy.
Sec. 9013. Modification of itemized deduction for medical expenses.
Sec. 9014. Limitation on excessive remuneration paid by certain health insurance
providers.
Sec. 9015. Additional hospital insurance tax on high-income taxpayers.
Sec. 9016. Modification of section 833 treatment of certain health organizations.

Sec. 9017. Excise tax on elective cosmetic medical procedures.
[Botox tax is back! Cosmetic procedures are taxed at 5%. What's "cosmetic" anyway? It is a procedure that: "is not necessary to ameliorate a deformity arising from, or directly related to, a congenital abnormality, a personal injury resulting from an accident or trauma, or disfiguring disease". (Is aging considered "disfiguring disease"? I'm thinking about Pelosi's botox and Biden's hair transplant.)]

Just remember, whatever added cost is to these entities - hospitals, insurance companies, medical device manufacturers, you will end up paying as those costs are passed on as higher price tags for their goods and services.

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