National Health Care Nail Biter?
Author: Ernie Fitzpatrick
In the first six months of the Obama presidency he’s gotten everything he’s wanted even though many in Congress didn’t like the way they were voting: many feel that their stimulus vote will come back to haunt them in next year’s elections. The only thing that seemingly has been stimulated is the unemployment rate- to keep rising.
President Barack Obama told the nation Saturday his health care overhaul is financially sound, but a new analysis by congressional budget experts of emerging House legislation said it would increase deficits by $239 billion over a decade.
“I want to be very clear: I will not sign on to any health plan that adds to our deficits over the next decade,” the president said in his weekly address. “And by helping improve quality and efficiency, the reforms we make will help bring our deficits under control in the long-term,” he added. There may not be a health care plan to sign then.
The president’s remarks were released late Friday, a few hours before an update by the Congressional Budget Office said the overall cost of the House bill would “result in a net increase in the federal budget deficit of $239 billion over the 2010-2019 period.” The estimate included the cost of higher Medicare fees for doctors, an important ingredient of the measure for the American Medical Association. The AMA, which represents physicians, endorsed the bill late last week.
More and more Democrats, especially the Freshman class, are beginning to resist more deficits.
Combined with state and local taxes, that Americans in 39 of the 50 states would have tax rates over 50 percent. Orszag said that additional tax should hit about 1 to 2 percent of income earners. He added that the president would like to include a revenue proposal that would limit the rate at which deductions could be itemized but Obama does not favor taxing employer-provided health insurance benefits.
But the chance of Congress getting health care reform legislation passed this year is growing increasingly slim. Congress takes a summer break on Aug. 7. Obama had hoped to have legislation passed by then. But even his Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, said Sunday the bill in the House is not likely to be the final product.
With the August recess just around the corner, time is running out and tempers are beginning to flare.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/national-health-care-nail-biter-1051394.html
About the Author:
As a spiritual-futurist, I have a BA degree majoring in history. One cannot know the future without knowing the past which holds clues to what is on the horizon. The world is in such a rapid expansion of knowledge that we are close to entering a tipping point that will forever change earth as we know it.
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