Say Anything Blog

Just what we need in the midst of a recession and growing unemployment, right?  More burden for the employers.

By the way, what do Democrats want these employers to do?  Pay health care fines or hire people?

Top Senate Democrats are close to finalizing their health bill and could unveil a measure as soon as early this week that would include stiffer penalties on employers who fail to provide health coverage.

Senate leaders plan to submit the bill to the Congressional Budget Office for a cost estimate as soon as Monday, and make the legislation public as soon as Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

Details of the legislation could change, but its broad outlines are becoming clear. Employers with more than 50 workers wouldn’t be required to provide health insurance, but they would face fines of up to $750 per employee if even part of their work force received a government subsidy to buy health insurance, this person said. A bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee had a lower fine of up to $400 per employee.

The bill to be brought to the Senate floor would create a new public health-insurance plan, but would give states the choice of opting out of participating in it, a proposal that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada backed last week.

The bill is expected to expand health coverage to tens of millions of Americans by giving low- and middle-income Americans subsidies to offset the cost of insurance, and expanding the Medicaid federal-state insurance program to cover a broader swath of the poor. Most people would be required to buy insurance or pay a fine, though exceptions would be made for those deemed unable to afford it.

Also expected are new rules on insurers to prevent them from denying coverage to people with pre-existing health conditions and from dropping customers’ insurance once they become ill.

Let’s go down the list of all the harm this bill is going to do:

Fines for employers.  That may as well be a new tax on employers.  Not only will businesses both big and small be confronted with shelling out to make their compensation packages meet new government expectations, they’ll also be held accountable through fines should one of their employees go on a government health care program.

Millions in subsidies for those who can’t afford health care.  This is essentially a national health care entitlement.  Rather than earning your health care, you can sit back and let the taxpayers provide it for you.  This is more spending at a time when we can ill-afford it.

Buy insurance or pay a fine.  This is undoubtedly unconstitutional.  The federal government simply does not have the authority to force people to buy a product or service.

No pre-existing conditions.  Because the government-backed “public option” wouldn’t have to turn a profit, these pre-existing conditions requirements will likely drive all private insurance options to the brink of bankruptcy by forcing them to take on unprofitable clients.  As the private insurance options fold or leave the market, the public option would swell.  Meaning more government spending, which we can’t afford, and less choice for Americans looking for health coverage.

This is a bad deal all the way around.