Insurers pass tax along to the states

Sacramento Bee ^ | May 16, 2015 | CARLA K. JOHNSON

[artichokegrower]

There's more than a touch of absurdity in the way an industry fee in President Barack Obama's health care law is being passed along to state taxpayers.

As Alice in Wonderland might say, a curious tax just got curiouser. The burden to states could mount to $13 billion in less than a decade.

The Health Insurance Providers Fee was aimed at insurance companies. The thinking went: Because insurers would gain a windfall of customers, they ought to help pay for the expansion of coverage. Insurers say they have raised prices for individuals and small businesses to cover the new tax.

As it turns out, they are raising their prices to state Medicaid programs, too.

[artichokegrower]

Thanks to Obamacare my health insurance costs more, has higher deductibles, and forces me into a plan with coverage I don't need. Now my state taxes are going to go up. Pelosi was right we had to pass this bill to see what was in it.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Pelosi was right we had to pass this bill to see what was in it.

Nowadays, most laws are like that, because even if the text of the law is known, the regulations that agencies will write are unknown (See "EPA"). But, this law is even more obscure than usual, because it was so huge that almost no one who voted on it (or their staff) was able or willing to read it.

[Cheerio]

This is what happens when the public is economically illiterate and appear to have a suicidal tendency to elect economic illiterates to rule over them.

[BipolarBob]

But, this law is even more obscure than usual, because it was so huge that almost no one who voted on it (or their staff) was able or willing to read it.

They knew enough to exempt themselves from it.

[Moonman62]

The Health Insurance Providers Fee was aimed at insurance companies. The thinking went: Because insurers would gain a windfall of customers, they ought to help pay for the expansion of coverage. Insurers say they have raised prices for individuals and small businesses to cover the new tax.

As it turns out, they are raising their prices to state Medicaid programs, too.

...

This is the way fascism works in our country. Or call it crony capitalism, or socialism for that matter.

[Pearls Before Swine]

They knew enough to exempt themselves from it.

I read last week that they didn't exempt themselves in the writing of the law. Instead, somebody lied on some paperwork and said that Congress was exempt because it had less than 50 employees. Anyone else here that?

[fruser1]

A tax or fee on a company, even minimum wage, translates to a tax passed on to the public. Every idiot should know this by now.

[houeto]

Instead, somebody lied on some paperwork and said that Congress was exempt because it had less than 50 employees

They claimed 45 employees. It's been posted several times.