Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on July 15, 2009

But, didn’t Barack Obama promise that electing him would mean LOWER taxes for everyone earning less than $250,000? (This figure changed, as we all recall, several times during the campaign, dropping to as low as $100,000, a paltry amount for any small business owner). Another lie, once you calculate the increased “back door taxes/penalties/costs” the global warming bill will rain on Americans. This socialized health care bill is the biggest lie of all, another economy buster, and it keeps getting worse as we find out more about what’s in it. And there is plenty hidden in it.

UPDATE, July 16: Michelle Malkin: Senate committee passes health care takeover, 13-10

Keith Hennessey uncovered the following alarming facts about government-run ObamaCare. Buy health insurance or pay a hefty new tax. No choice, no freedom, no protection of the Constitution.

Does the House really want to raise taxes on eight million uninsured people?
July 14, 2009

…As expected, the House bill would mandate that individuals and families have or buy health insurance.

But what if they don’t buy it?

Then Section 401 kicks in. Any individual (or family) that does not have health insurance would have to pay a new tax, roughly equal to the smaller of 2.5% of your income or the cost of a health insurance plan.

[ Technical note: From the legislative language, it appears the tax = min ( 2.5% * (modified AGI – personal exemption), average premium cost). In the examples below, for simplicity I assume modified AGI = AGI. ]

I assume the bill authors would respond, “But why wouldn’t you want insurance? After all, we’re subsidizing it for everyone up to 400% of the poverty line.”

That is true. But if you’re a single person with income of $44,000 or higher, then you’re above 400% of the poverty line. You would not be subsidized, but would face the punitive tax if you didn’t get health insurance. This bill leaves an important gap between the subsidies and the cost of health insurance. CBO says that for about eight million people, that gap is too big to close, and they would get stuck paying higher taxes and still without health insurance.

Example 1:

Bob is single and earns $50K per year. He earns more than four times the federal poverty level, so he does not qualify for subsidies under the House bill.

Bob works for a five-person small business that does not provide him with health insurance. His $50K wage is average for this company, which therefore does not qualify for the new small business tax credits.

This company is small enough that they do not have to pay the IRS any fee for not providing Bob with health insurance. (See the table on page 184.)

With only $50K of income, Bob cannot afford to buy health insurance. Under the House bill, he would then have to pay about $1,150 per year in higher taxes to the government. That’s 2.5% of (his income minus a $3,650 personal exemption).

I went shopping for Bob on eHealthInsurance.com. He is 50 years old and a non-smoker, living where I do in Virginia. The cheapest bare bones policy he can get is $1,620 per year. Most plans are in the $3K – $5K range. That $470 difference between the tax and the cheapest premium is more than Bob can afford on a $50K pre-tax annual wage.

To summarize, under the House bill:

* Bob is a single 50-year old non-smoking small business employee who makes $50K per year before taxes and does not have health insurance.
* Bob cannot afford a $1,600 bare bones health insurance policy, much less a $3K — $5K policy.
* Bob would get no subsidies under this bill, and his employer would face no penalty for not providing him with health insurance.
* Bob would end up without health insurance and would have to pay $1,150 more in taxes.

Read the entire article for more examples on how the government will tax people who don’t have health insurance.

You must watch Steven Crowder’s excellent exposé video of the Canadian health care system: Canada’s Decrepit, Expensive Single-Payer Health Care System: Steven Crowder Investigates, Guerrilla-Style (video)

Washington Post’s Lori Montgomery and Ceci Connolly have also delved into Obama’s socialized health care plan, and discovered the following facts.

The Washington Post: Health-Care Plan Would Add Surtax On Wealthy: House Democrats Propose to Expand Insurance Coverage
July 15, 2009

House Democrats announced a plan yesterday that would force the richest 2 million U.S. taxpayers to shoulder much of the cost of an expansion of the nation’s health-care system, by imposing a surtax of as much as 5.4 percent on income above $350,000 a year.

[...]

Senate negotiators have all but abandoned plans to directly tax the wealthy and are focusing instead on an array of smaller, more narrowly targeted revenue measures that would raise money from drug and insurance companies, as well as individuals and corporations. A tax on employer-provided health benefits remains part of that discussion, but Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who is promoting a tax on the most generous 1 percent of private plans, conceded yesterday that such a proposal is “a very tough sell.”

House leaders said the surtax on the wealthy in their plan offers their best chance to push a bill through the House by the end of the month, meeting Obama’s deadline and building momentum for his top domestic priority.

“That’s where the votes are,” said Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Republicans criticized the surtax as a job-killing tax increase that would fall disproportionately on small businesses, whose owners often report earnings on their personal tax returns. “You can’t tax the job creators and expect them to create jobs,” said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio).

[...]

The new health system envisioned by House leaders would require individuals to carry insurance and force businesses to help pay for it. It also would take an aggressive stance toward the insurance industry, prohibiting “discriminatory practices” such as refusing to sell policies to individuals who are already sick or excluding certain treatments from coverage.

This nightmare of a bill is encroaching tyranny… this bill will socialize and bankrupt America, while dismantling our Constitutional rights. Call your congressman today to vote against ObamaCare.

Additional:
NASDAQ.com: Centrist Dem Leader: Has Committee Votes To Block Health Bill
Hot Air: Does ObamaCare outlaw private insurance? and WaPo: House health-care surtax “bad policy” and Health-Care Plan Would Add Surtax On Wealthy and Statist health care, by the numbers and CBO cost estimate of House health-care bill: A cool trillion over 10 years and ObamaCare: Taxing the uninsured and Will ObamaCare threaten medical innovation? and Obama: Let’s work together to destroy American health care by year’s end and Video: Are the elderly cost effective? and Video: ObamaCare an “Old Joke”; Update: Cost now $1.6 trillion
The Heritage Foundation: Senate “Free Rider” Penalties: Taxing the Poor to Pay for Health Care
Rasmussen Reports: Number Who Says U.S. Heading in Right Direction Slips to Lowest Level Since February
Center for Health Transformation: Healthcare That Works: Answering President Obama’s Challenge of Finding What Works (pdf)
Breitbart.com: Healthcare battle ‘isn’t about me’: Obama
Wall Street Journal: Universal Health Care Isn’t Worth Our Freedom and Small Business Faces Big Bite
Michelle Malkin: Video: Health rations and you
and Socialized health care and the death of choice and Obamacare in the House: Do the Blue Dogs have any bite? and Congress should be required to enroll in Obamacare and Warning: More Obamacare/MSM theater on the way and Document drop: CBO scores the health care takeover and Waiting for the health care takeover bill to drop; It’s here: Soak the rich and Shhhhhhh! and Waiting for the health care takeover bill to drop; It’s here: Soak the rich and Welcome to Obamacare Theater and A test for Denver International Airport and Gotta’ Love Those Dems on Health Care and Obamacare ground troops at the airport and The drug companies sell out and The Obamacare horror story you won’t hear and Obamacare bogus statistic of the day and Obamacare bogus statistic of the day, Pt. 2 and Undercover at an Obama health care meet-up and Mobilizing against Obamacare
Fastidious: What I’m Watching: The Guy With the Broken Clavicle Was Waiting For Five Hours
The Barton Bulletin: The Government’s Power Grab For Your Health Care
PAWaterCooler.com: It’s For the children, and other such nonsense
Steven Crowder, Big Hollywood: Must-See Undercover Exposé of Socialized Healthcare!
Fire Andrea Mitchell!: How to pay for the democRATS health care bill – surtaxes
Patriot Burr: ObamaCare Not Dead
Reuters: Republicans plan rival healthcare plan
Moderate in the Middle: Health Care Update: New Medicare Advisory Council in WH to call the shots on reimbursement..House Bill OUTLAWS new Private Insurance
The Daley Gator: Oh goody health care hijacking bill to be unveiled
Hot Air Green Room: Obamacare: The mask is off and Debunking Some Healthcare Propaganda and Rocks, Hard Places & Obamacare
Adam Baldwin, Big Hollywood: A “Cultural Fix”?: Global Citizen Educators Rethinking Sustainability into Population Control vs. Academic Freedom
American Spectator: House Dems’ Health Care Plan Includes Gov’t Plan
Goodtimepolitics: The White House Admits Americans Will Be Forced Out of Their Current Health Care Plans
Founding Bloggers: Horrific Health Care Headlines From UK – Our Socialized Medical Future!
Gary Graham, Big Hollywood: Obama-Care Can Kill You
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Ronald Reagan’s Clarity… “The Gipper” Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine and Bad News: Sen. Feingold Admits What We’ve Suspected All Along: Obama’s “Public” Health Care Plan Meant to Ultimately Push Americans to Single-Payer Health Care and A “Must Read” » American Thinker: “Back to ACORN General Hospital” | Obama’s Single-Payer Health Care Nightmare and Nightmare: Heritage Foundation Exposes Universal Health Care Myths & Destruction of Free Market and The Sham of Socialism: Save America While There’s Still Time… ‘1984′ Prophesy and Video: Steven Crowder: ‘Socialized Health Care Sucks’ and Heritage Foundation: Myth Exposed – American Health Care System Not Perfect, but Superior to Socialized Health Care and Cautionary Tale: ‘Prime Minister, You Have Run Out of Our Money’
Founding Bloggers: Horrific Health Care Headlines From UK – Our Socialized Medical Future!
JustOneMinute: If The Rain And Clouds Aren’t Depressing You…
John Goodman, Cato’s Letter (pdf): Five Myths of Socialized Medicine

Categories: Economy, Government, Health, Law & Constitution, Social and Political Climate
Tags: America, Congress, economic depression, economic free-fall, government-run health care, health care, health insurance, nationalized health care, ObamaCare, political, politics, rationed health care, single payer health care, Single-Payer System, socialism, socialized health care, surtax, taxes, taxpayers, universal health care