The Tax Impact Of Obamacare Becoming Clearer

[PJABBER]

Katie Pavlich, News Editor at Townhall.com is doing a series of pieces on the tax impacts of Obamacare.

An article she published yesterday covered the special impact on medical device manufacturers. This topic was also covered by Smart Money here.

Medical-device manufacturers will pay a 2.3 percent tax on sales starting in 2013. That tax will affect everything from surgical tools to oxygen tanks to wheelchairs. It is one of several features of the law designed to raise money to cover the uninsured - it's expected to raise an additional $20 billion by 2019. This measure will have a significant impact on the seniors that disproportionally rely on these devices.

But experts say that the tax could have a particularly big impact in the world of knee and hip replacements. Such operations increased more than 26 percent to more than 1 million procedures in the U.S. between 2005 and 2010, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; the total bill of the hospital stays for such surgeries was about $60.5 billion in 2010. And with the American population hitting retirement age in record numbers, demand is likely to surge: The number of knee replacement procedures alone is expected to increase 673 percent, to nearly 3.5 million, in 2030, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the orthopedic academy.

At the simplest level, some critics of the tax estimate that the expense could add hundreds of dollars to the cost of each joint-replacement procedure, as the manufacturers of the joints pass the cost along to patients. "By having taxes that go into effect for health care companies, you're actually increasing the cost of health care in the country," says Dave Blaszczak, senior health policy analyst at the nonpartisan Potomac Research Group, which provides government and economic analysis to institutional investors.

Her latest article, and why I post this thread topic, references a chart produced by The Heritage Foundation from updated data provided by the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee On Taxation. They identify 18 specific tax increases in ObamaCare, the biggest impacts start on January 1, 2013:

The first tax on this list, the increase in payroll tax for single filers making more than $250,000 per year, is the tax killing small business and job growth now. Small businesses file as individuals and understand that if they are going to be paying more money in taxes to the government, they will have less money not only to hire more people, but less money to continue paying their current employees.

Also, keep in mind that not only did President Obama strip $716 billion from Medicare to pay for ObamaCare, that $716 billion isn't near enough to cover the entire bill. So what's their solution? They plan to hike taxes by more than $800 billion. The "Affordable Care Act" isn't so affordable afterall.

I know this subject as been covered here before. The news is that the CBO is now able to communicate just how much the Obama program will cost - much higher than what they projected with the defining limits they were given by the Democratic Congress that passed the legislation.

Finally, and I don't often do this in my posts, I would like to offer a special shout out to Katie for her efforts in keeping more than a few of us here in DC in the loop.

Thanks, Katie!

 

[wirednuts]

:/

when gas goes up 50 cents a gallon i dont call my electric company and say "sorry, things are costing me more now. you have to charge me less"

 

[PJABBER]

:/

when gas goes up 50 cents a gallon i dont call my electric company and say "sorry, things are costing me more now. you have to charge me less"

I have no idea what you are trying to say there, but thanks for playing.

For your consolation prize... you will receive...

Drum roll, please, maestro!

A shameless plug for Katie's book!!!!

She has been one of the leading investigative journalists breaking news on Fast and Furious.

For a fast and furious read (it's short,) buy her book, Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and the Shameless Cover-Up

 

[monovillage]

Hey thanks, I ordered it on Kindle.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

More sensationalist garbage? Probably.

 

[Smoblikat]

Shes cute

 

[sMiLeYz]

Not gonna lie, I'd hit it.

 

[PJABBER]

“I really dislike Leftists, and they really dislike me.”

Katie does, however, like being outdoors and hunting. Those guns are not just for show. :awe:

 

[umbrella39]

She's cute... too bad she is flawed...

 

[MooseNSquirrel]

Katie Pavlich, right wing shill at Townhall.com is doing a series of pieces on the tax impacts of Obamacare.

So whats your complaint exactly?

Are you criticizing that they are trying to cover new expenses with new sources of revenue?

 

[PJABBER]

She's cute... too bad she is flawed...

You really wouldn't have a chance.

 

[MooseNSquirrel]

Wait I know... you are expecting a hip replacement 4 years from now!

 

[umbrella39]

You really wouldn't have a chance.

Actually, I really would... I am a healthy, good looking, FT employed therapist with deep radio voice who owns his own house outright, and am well hung. The only problem I'd have is getting permission from my wife... I don't play some grandiose persona on the Interwebz, I have an in real life that is going along rather swimmingly, thanks

 

[K1052]

I thought babe threads were only allowed in L&R. Mods?

 

[MrColin]

Don't forget the cost of the health insurance. After the republicans re-authorize the insurance companies "right" to take everyone's money and decline coverage, the now mandatory health insurance premiums will basically be just a tax paid directly to private enterprise.

 

[tydas]

Can you imagine the GOP giving the reigns of healthcare to private industry...imagine the likes of Comcast and Verizon dictating costs and coverage in healthcare...

sorry..were throttling your coverage since you've been too sick...

 

[PJABBER]

Actually, I really would... I am a healthy, good looking, FT employed therapist with deep radio voice who owns his own house outright, and am well hung. The only problem I'd have is getting permission from my wife... I don't play some grandiose persona on the Interwebz, I have an in real life that is going along rather swimmingly, thanks

LOL, yeah, there is always that one thing that would stop you from being the Lothario that you know you could be. If you are happy, stick with that formula as long as you can, life has a weird way of turning.

 

[PJABBER]

Wait I know... you are expecting a hip replacement 4 years from now!

My personal interests are usually at a pretty far remove from my discussion interests. And I am way too young to be anticipating hip replacement.

Still, it seems like the biggest losers with Obamacare are seniors. Higher cost of common medical devices, higher insuring costs, reduced benefits, arbitrary choice decisions made by a death panel. Even if someone is moderately well off and considering a Cadillac health plan, the government will impose such a tax burden (40% excise tax!) that it becomes unaffordable to many.

Looks like Obama, the nation's greatest advocate of on-demand abortions, is also shooting to be the guy that rushes granny and gramps off to the graveyard.

The impact on the medical device industry is likely to be severe. Americans For Tax Reform made the following conclusion -

A bipartisan outcry has been raised over the device tax, and for good reason. The tax was enacted to help fund the $1.76 trillion in new spending authorized under Obamacare, and it will actively undermine production of and improvement on medical devices which are crucial to patient outcomes.

The device tax is a tax on gross receipts (sales, essentially) instead of a tax on profits, so the tax will be imposed even if a company sells its products at a loss. This one detail ensures that the 2.3% tax is deceptively large: the medical device industry’s tax burden is expected to double because of the Taxmageddon increase; some companies (such as Zoll, which manufactures defibrillators) will see their profit margins shaved by up to 40%.

A recent study found that investment in medical research and development will fall by $2 billion per year because of the device tax—and that is a cautious estimate. R&D dollars drive innovation and innovation lowers costs, so the tax’s adverse effect on investment will keep expensive medical devices from becoming affordable and widely available in the future.

More immediately, the device tax will gouge health consumers for essential products. Taxes on companies often end up hitting consumers as higher prices, and the device tax is no different. The actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made it plain that Obamacare’s “fees and the [device] tax would generally be passed through to health consumers in the form of higher drug and device prices and higher insurance premiums.” In other words, patients – many in dire need of care – may find crucial medical products out of their reach as a result of the 2.3% tax.

Whatever costs cannot be passed along to patients will be absorbed by the medical device companies, which will lead businesses to cut jobs as they tread water to stay afloat. One study found that, depending on the elasticity of the tax, the medical device industry will be forced to fire between 14,500 and 47,100 workers—up to 10% of the workforce.

 

[Genx87]

Can you imagine the GOP giving the reigns of healthcare to private industry...imagine the likes of Comcast and Verizon dictating costs and coverage in healthcare...

sorry..were throttling your coverage since you've been too sick...

What do you think Obamacare does? And we need to get ready for throttling of services. Both parties are now in agreement that medicare costs need to be tackled. That means cuts in medicare coverage(throttling). you have two choices. Let the free market do it or let a politician decide who lives and who ides.

 

[PJABBER]

I thought babe threads were only allowed in L&R. Mods?

 

[FerrelGeek]

More sensationalist garbage? Probably.

She's cute... too bad she is flawed...

More like she's saying things that libs don't want to hear.

 

[soulcougher73]

Yeah she looks credible.

 

[FerrelGeek]

Yeah she looks credible.

So, because she's attractive, she's not credible? There's a nice sexist comment.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

What do you think Obamacare does? And we need to get ready for throttling of services. Both parties are now in agreement that medicare costs need to be tackled. That means cuts in medicare coverage(throttling). you have two choices. Let the free market do it or let a politician decide who lives and who ides.

Given the choice between letting a politician decide who lives and dies, and letting the free market decide who lives or dies, I'm actually going to go with the politicians.

Politicians don't exactly have a stellar track record on this, but every time the free market has been used to put value on human life....the results have been pretty awful for the humans involved.

 

[FerrelGeek]

Given the choice between letting a politician decide who lives and dies, and letting the free market decide who lives or dies, I'm actually going to go with the politicians.

Politicians don't exactly have a stellar track record on this, but every time the free market has been used to put value on human life....the results have been pretty awful for the humans involved.

I have friends in England and Canada that would probably disagree with you on this.