Urged on by Trump, the Senate overnight adopted a budget resolution that clears a path for eliminating the tax-and-spending provisions of the Affordable Care Act by simple majority vote — no Democratic cooperation required. That means repeal of two provisions targeted at high-income households: a 0.9 percent hospital insurance tax on earnings above $250,000 for couples and a 3.8 percent tax on capital gains, dividends and other nonlabor income above that same threshold.
That would provide a tax cut averaging $7 million for each of the 400 highest-earning taxpayers, according to new calculations by the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities using Internal Revenue Service data. That cut, the center estimated, would amount to $2.8 billion annually overall — or approximately the value of Obamacare subsidies for those with modest incomes in the 20 smallest states and the District of Columbia.
You have to follow the money. I can’t afford to lobby a group of senators to keep the Affordable Care Act and that goes for the recipients who benefit from it. The wealthy who are subsidizing the law with their tax dollars can afford to push the right people to repeal it and steer the agenda to convince the stupid and poorest of the public that the ACA is bad for them and bad for America.
Polls repeatedly show that if you ask someone if Obamacare should be repealed and they says “yes”, you can then ask them if they believe in coverage for their kids being required, coverage for people with a pre-existing condition, etc. Then, that same person believes those things are important. They have no idea that Obamacare is why those things are required by law now. Ignorance is bliss.
I’m glad that the public outcry over repealing the ACA is so big that the Conservative controlled House & Senate are now forced to find a replacement. Good luck because healthcare is expensive and no one wants to pay for it.