Bold Obama Plan Sweeps Away Reagan Ideas: Health Insurance Changes
March 2, 2009 by Be Safe Insure
Filed under Health
The budget that President Obama proposed on Thursday is nothing less than an attempt to end a three-decade era of economic policy dominated by the ideas of Ronald Reagan and his supporters.
The Obama budget — a bold, even radical departure from recent history, wrapped in bureaucratic formality and statistical tables — would sharply raise taxes on the rich, beyond where Bill Clinton had raised them. It would reduce taxes for everyone else, to a lower point than they were under either Mr. Clinton or George W. Bush. And it would lay the groundwork for sweeping changes in health care and education, among other areas.
The budget was unveiled by President Barack Obama last week on Feb. 26. It aims to reverse the economic inequality that has increased over the last three decades by increasing taxes on the wealthy, lowering taxes for middle-income and low-income households, and laying the foundation for changes in healthcare and education.
Among some of the changes in the budget are $100 billion increases in taxes for the wealthy each year beginning in 2011 when the recession is predicted to end; $50 billion in tax cuts for non-wealthy residents each year; the elimination of subsidies for health insurers, banks, and agricultural firms; and pricing for carbon emissions to reduce global warming.
The tax cuts aimed at middle class and poor residents would increase their median household income by $800, according to recent estimates. Rewriting the tax code has become a priority as wealthier families have seen their average post-tax income rise from $1 million in 1979 to $1.4 million.
The tax increases aimed at the wealthiest Americans would cost those households approximately $100,000 more per year. However, the budget’s plans for taxes and funding for healthcare and education will increase the nation’s deficit significantly.
He sought to eliminate some corporate subsidies, for health insurers, banks and agricultural companies, that economists have long criticized.
The details remain vague, but the budget begins paying for investments that would eventually allow Medicare officials to refuse to pay for medical treatment that does not show evidence of improving health. If successful, that change would vastly reduce the government’s long-term budget deficit. It is also likely to bring down private health costs, since insurers typically follow Medicare’s lead.
His proposals on health care are likely to meet stiff opposition from some doctors and insurers.
