Tag: GOP wealthcare

How a Republican Idea for Reducing Medicare Costs Could Affect You

The following article by Austin Frakt was posted on the New York TImes website October 30, 2017:

Credit: Lennard Kok

Last month, as Republican leaders were preoccupied with another unsuccessful attempt to replace Obamacare, a senior Trump administration official issued a warning about a different major medical program, Medicare.

The official, Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that Medicare was facing a fiscal crisis. She announced that she was asking the agency’s innovation center for ideas to address it, and that part of the answer was to give consumers “incentives to be cost-conscious.” This has some Democrats worried that she’s trying to move Medicare toward something called premium support, which would be a huge change for consumers.

Before we get into the pros and cons, what’s the fiscal crisis? According to projections from this year’s Medicare Trustees’ report, the fund that pays for Medicare-financed hospital care will be depleted in 12 years, and care for other services will consume an ever-larger share of the economy and federal revenue. Citing trends like those, Republicans included the outlines of a Medicare premium support plan in the House of Representatives’ fiscal year 2018 budget resolution, as they did in several prior ones. Continue reading “How a Republican Idea for Reducing Medicare Costs Could Affect You”

GOP plans tax blitzkrieg

The following article by Scott Wong and Alexander Bolton was posted on the Hill website October 28, 2017:

© Getty images

Congressional Republicans are feeling enormous pressure to deliver a win on tax reform before Christmas Day.

After a humiliating defeat on ObamaCare repeal, GOP leaders are desperate for their first major legislative victory of 2017 and are doubling down on their ambitious timeline to overhaul the U.S. tax code.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) reiterated this week that House Republicans will pass their tax bill out of their chamber before the Thanksgiving recess kicks off on Nov. 16. Continue reading “GOP plans tax blitzkrieg”

Supply-Side Follies: Wasteful Tax Cuts Will Not Boost the Economy

The following article by Christian E. Weller was posted on the Center for American Progress website October 26, 2017:

This fall’s policy agenda has been dominated by talks about tax cuts, nominally disguised as tax reform. The Trump administration and congressional leaders have so far provided few details, but the existing principles and proposal suggest that the final product will include massive tax cuts for top income earners and corporations. The proposal includes little or no tax relief for middle- and low-income Americans. Proponents argue that the tax cuts will translate into a boost to economic growth because the additional money to the wealthy and corporations will trickle down in the form of more money for investments, as well as lower costs of investments. Greater business investments, the argument goes, will lead to accelerated innovation, which will lead to more jobs and higher living standards.

The arguments in support of supply-side tax cuts do not hold up. Past tax cuts, such as the supply-side tax that heavily favored the wealthy during the 1980s and 2000s, showed neither measurable acceleration of economic growth nor clear improvements for workers. There was also no indication of a worsening economy after taxes on the wealthy increased in the early 1990s and in 2012. (see Table 1) Continue reading “Supply-Side Follies: Wasteful Tax Cuts Will Not Boost the Economy”

Why Does Trump LOVE Tax Cuts? Because Americans Will Be Writing Him a YUGE Tax-Refund Check

The following article by David Cay Johnston of DC Report was posted on the AlterNet website October 24, 2017:

Here’s the Trump “middle class” tax-cut plan in a nutshell: two-thirds of the tax savings will go to the top 1%.

Trump and his surrogates say they intend to pass a middle-class tax cut this fall. Trump says he won’t be better off because of his tax plan. At times he says he will be worse off.

Nonsense. Pure nonsense.

Based on public statements by Trump, his surrogates and top Republican tax writers on Capitol Hill, what is coming is a tax-cut plan for billionaires. The Trump tax plan focuses on cutting the taxes of those who are self-employed or who own businesses while sticking it to wage and salary workers, even those earning quite generous salaries.

The annual tax savings alone for the 1% will be greater than the incomes earned by about 70% of Americans.

But what else should we expect from Trump and his cadre of rich pals? Trump ran for office promising to “drain the swamp” in Washington. He said that for too long the rich and powerful have been taking care of themselves. He promised to be the champion of the forgotten men and women of America. But like almost everything else, none of what he promised has translated into policy. Rather, we have seen the opposite.

The estimate that the 1% get two-thirds of the tax savings comes from an organization with a long history of reliability with its budget and tax numbers, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). It’s been around since 1980.

For more than two decades that I have studied its reports, subsequent events have shown the institute’s numbers to be rock solid. Indeed, tax policy wonks who work for the right-wing Heritage Foundation and the libertarian Cato Institute have said that while they disagree with how ITEP and its affiliate, Citizens for Tax Justice, interpret the numbers, the numbers themselves are always solid and reliable.

The figures in ITEP’s analysis of the Trump/GOP tax plan are disturbing in the way the plan shovels money at the already rich and tosses crumbs to everyone else. The estimates are based on public statements by Trump, his surrogates and Congressional Republicans.

To figure out how the tax cuts would be distributed, the institute divided the populace into fifths and then broke down the top fifth into 15%, then 4% and then the 1% at the apex of the economy. This is a standard technique in creating what are known as distribution tables.

The middle fifth—the very definition of the middle class—is expected to make $45,000 to $66,000 next year. People in this group will save on average $410 on income taxes, less than one cent out of every dollar earned.

The next fifth, those making $66,000 to $111,000, is in the same under-a-penny crowd. People here can expect to save about $530 each, while the next 15%, those standing on the 81st through 95th steps on the income ladder, will not do even that well. They stand to save just $180 each.

Even those on the 96th through 99th rungs, making $250,000 to $616,000, won’t quite break through the one-cent barrier, saving $3,510 on average.

If you’re at the top of the heap, among the favored 1% who make more than $616,000 a year, you are in for a bonanza. You and your friends—whose incomes average $2.1 million but can run up to the hundreds of millions of dollars—can expect to save an average of more than $90,000, about 4.2 cents for every dollar.

But even within the 1%, the higher into the income stratosphere you go, the greater your tax savings. Trump, who has made more than $100 million some years, will see his tax rate on most income fall from 39.6% to 25%. That’s a tax cut of 14.6 cents on each dollar, $14.6 million.

That’s $14.6 million a year that will not go to providing healthcare to millions of people, upgrade the nation’s nuclear arsenal, pay for soldiers’ funerals, rebuild Puerto Rico, better predict hurricanes, protect endangered species, build a border wall or even cover the Secret Service tab at Mar-a-Lago.

While Trump and his family enjoy big tax savings, the institute estimates that one family in five will pay higher taxes. Separately, Lily Batchelder, a New York University professor of tax law, has estimated that about one in six families will pay more.

Most of those paying more have families with three or more children. Trump plans to take away the exemption parents get for each dependent child. The way they plan to do it, the more children in a family the more they will be hurt, a curious policy for a president with five children by three women.

What You Can Do About It

While the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Representative Kevin Brady, doesn’t care to hear the thoughts of Americans who live outside his Texas district, you can contact his staff. Their names and numbers are here.

The members of the Ways and Means Committee are listed here.

On the Senate side, the Finance Committee is chaired by Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah. A list of members is here.

The Senate Finance Committee staff are at 202-224-4515 or by fax at 202-228-0554.

View the post here.

Cheaper Health Plans Promoted by Trump Have a History of Fraud

The following article by Robert Pear was posted on the New York Times website October 21, 2017:

President Trump with Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky as he signed an executive order on health care at the White House this month. Credit Evan Vucci/Associated Press

WASHINGTON — In signing a recent executive order, President Trump promised that millions of Americans could soon obtain “great, great health care” through inexpensive plans that offer consumers options they had been denied under the Affordable Care Act.

But these health plans, created for small businesses, have a darker side: They have a long history of fraud and abuse that have left employers and employees with hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid medical bills.

The problems are described in dozens of court cases and enforcement actions taken over more than a decade by federal and state officials who regulate the type of plans Mr. Trump is encouraging, known as association health plans. Continue reading “Cheaper Health Plans Promoted by Trump Have a History of Fraud”

Uninsured Up 3.5 Million Amid Health Care Uncertainty, Survey Finds

The following article by Griffin Connolly was posted on the Roll Call website October 20, 2017:

After reaching record low in 2016, uninsured rate has steadily crept up as 2010 health law’s future remains uncertain

President Donald Trump announced last week his administration is ending cost-sharing reduction payments that help insurance companies pay part of lower- and middle-income people’s coverage costs. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Roughly 3.5 million more Americans are uninsured compared to the last quarter of 2016, a new survey found.

An ongoing Gallup-Sharecare survey that has asked at least 500 randomly sampled people each day since 2008 whether they have insurance shared its 2017 third-quarter results Friday.

The uninsured rate among adults was 12.3 percent as of Sept. 30. That’s up 1.4 percent from the third and fourth quarters of 2016, when the uninsured rate reached a record low of 10.9 percent.

The number and rate of uninsured Americans will likely continue to creep upward without Congress and President Donald Trump taking steps to “stabilize the insurance markets,” according to an analysis of the survey released by Gallup on Friday. Continue reading “Uninsured Up 3.5 Million Amid Health Care Uncertainty, Survey Finds”

Trump Pushes Massive Tax Cut for Multimillionaires over Child Care for Working Families

The following article by Katie Hamm was posted on the Center for American Progress website October 19, 2017:

Pre-K students line up outside a classroom in San Antonio, April 2014. Credit: AP/Eric Gay

The White House recently released a tax reform proposal that would repeal the estate tax, among other provisions. Repealing the estate tax would result in $240 billion in tax cutsfor millionaires over the next 10 years. Only those with estates valued at more than $5.5 million for an individual and $11 million for a couple are subject to the estate tax. These estates represent the wealthiest 0.2 percent of Americans. In fact, President Donald Trump’s children could see a $1 billion tax windfall from this provision.

During his campaign, President Trump said that he would make child care more affordable for low-income and middle-class families. He could make good on that promise by prioritizing child care assistance over tax breaks for millionaires. Continue reading “Trump Pushes Massive Tax Cut for Multimillionaires over Child Care for Working Families”

Republicans Ready to Move on a Tax Plan Few Have Seen

The following article by Jim Tankersley was posted on the New York Times website October 19, 2017:

Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, on Thursday in Washington. Credit Al Drago for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Almost no one on or off Capitol Hill has seen the tax overhaul bill that Republicans are drafting behind closed doors. Congressional staff members have not settled on many key details. Yet party leaders are preparing to move ahead on a timeline even more aggressive than their unsuccessful attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

The swift pace to complete, release and quickly vote on a tax cut is aimed at leaving little time for the type of dissent that has scuttled previous tax proposals.

Continue reading “Republicans Ready to Move on a Tax Plan Few Have Seen”

ACA enrollment schedule may lock millions into unwanted health plans

The following article by Amy Goldstein was posted on the Washington Post website October 20, 2017:

Millions of Americans with insurance through the Affordable Care Act could find themselves locked into health plans they do not want for the coming year because of the Trump administration’s schedule for the enrollment season that starts in less than two weeks.

The complication arises when people who already have health plans under the law are automatically re-enrolled in the same plan. In the past, a few million consumers each year have been auto-enrolled and then were sent government notices encouraging them to check whether they could find better or more affordable coverage.

This time, according to a federal document obtained by The Washington Post, the automatic enrollment will take place after it is too late to make any changes. Auto-enrollment will occur immediately after the last day of the ACA sign-up season, which the Trump administration has shortened, leaving the vast majority of such consumers stranded without any way to switch to a plan they might prefer. Continue reading “ACA enrollment schedule may lock millions into unwanted health plans”

Poll: Most Americans Disapprove of Trump’s Subsidy Slash

The following article by Griffin Connolly was posted on the Roll Call website October 18, 2017:

Two senators reached bipartisan deal Tuesday to fund cost-reducing subsidies

Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., reached an agreement Tuesday to fund cost-sharing reduction payments the president axed from the executive schedule last week. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Most Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump’s decision to end Obama-era federal subsidies to insurers that lower costs for low- and middle-income families, a new poll found.

Fifty-three percent of respondents to an Economist/YouGov poll conducted Oct. 15 and 16 said they disapproved of the executive move, compared to 31 percent who were in favor. Sixteen percent declined to give an opinion.

Publicly, the administration claimed it was closing the executive payment schedule because it was unconstitutional. It is also part of a broader effort to completely roll back the 2010 health care law, a GOP promise seven years in the making. Continue reading “Poll: Most Americans Disapprove of Trump’s Subsidy Slash”