JUST A RETIRED THINKER!

October 30, 2009

New Medical Tax

According to Dick Morris www.dickmorris.com President Obama is planning to reduce the cost of medical care by taxing it! This new medical device tax is very troubling since it will be affecting those that can least afford it or survive it. As more details of the health care bills emerge, the more they seem to be over the top.

The Senate Finance Committee bill includes a broad provision taxing all manner of medical devices. This tax includes such things as pacemakers, stints, artificial heart valves, defibrillators, automated wheelchairs, mechanized artificial limbs, replacement hips and knees, surgical gurneys, laparoscopic equipment, and the like. It appears that senior citizens will again suffer most from this hideous Healthcare Plan that is about to be forced upon us.

Most groups that met with this Whitehouse had their chance to make a deal with this band of elitist robbers. But, unlike all those other groups, the medical device industry refused the deal. This posture enraged the tyrants in the White House who vowed to punish the industry with cuts imposed by Congress. The result was a decision by the revenue-hungry Senate Finance Committee to extract billions in funds from the industry.

Mr. Morris suggests that the legislation does not work like a sales or excise tax. Rather it follows the model of the punitive tobacco settlement imposed on cigarette companies in the 90s. It assesses an industry-wide payment which firms must make in proportion to their market share. It bars them from passing along the cost of the assessment by charging more for certain basic products, but allows them to raise the price of others to raise the funds for the fee.

So, the result will be that virtually every piece of advanced surgical equipment will be subject to a price increase to meet the levy from Washington. No matter that these devices often make the difference between life and death and that, in effect, taxing them raises the cost of vital treatments. The vengeful White House will have its pound of flesh from the medical device industry for daring to be independent and to refuse to knuckle down to Administration pressure!

This tax, imposed in a spirit of haughty arrogance, falls on totally inappropriate objects. Valves, prosthetic limbs, pacemakers, hearing aids, and such are essential therapies that make life longer, better, and less painful. To tax these vital devices makes no sense. Except, in the world of special interest group politics, that grips this take-no-prisoners and show-no-mercy White House.

The most recent Gallup Poll reflected that 49% of respondents said they believed that the Obamacare plan will increase their health care costs. Only about 20% said it would lower them. It is taxes like these that substantiate this kind of concern and as more and more facts are learned then more people will be opposed to the new version of the healthcare plan.

Seniors must remain alert because this new plan as I indicated will be hurt the most. Please check the web site www.americanseniors.org for a better representation and health insurance for retirees. If you have AARP insurance then you will find ASA is a better deal!!