Posted on 03/02/2016 3:55:38 PM PST by sheikdetailfeather
Technically since Obamacare supposedly got everybody covered, there are currently no pre-existing conditions.
The issue would be people born after the Obamacare repeal who decline to buy health insurance and then develop a condition.
I think an idea talked about by Republicans was high-risk pools or something like that that would have higher premiums.
What politician is going to take Medicaid from Grandma?
That is nothing new. Unless your healthcare premiums are deducted from your gross pay (in which they aren’t taxed anyway), you can already deduct the cost of your health insurance premiums. See the last bulleted item here: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc502.html
As it stands now, you can only deduct the medical expenses that are in excess of 7.5% of AGI. So if your AGI is $100k and you had medical expenses of $7501, you would only be able to apply $1 towards your deductions. And then all of your other deductions would have to add up to an amount greater than the standard deduction before you would see a reduction in taxes owed.
A great deal of out of pocket medical costs have to be borne before it affects the taxes we owe. What is really needed is to lower that 7.5% threshold.
Whoops, I did not notice the word “fully.” We have always been able to deduct them subject to a 7.5% threshold, and it appears that premiums will be separate from the rest of the expenses and not subject to the threshold.
Does Mr. Trump consider it sound public policy to remove government from health care entirely?
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I’m not sure it’s possible to do that all in one go without, as I’ve been known to put it, absolute bloody chaos.
If you have some idea on how to do this, let me know. I’m serious; I’m not mocking you. How can we get the government out, as is, without causing undue suffering and getting it past the nest of twits known as Congress?
But until then, I’m willing to take every single step in the right direction that I can get.
Line item is 7 full throttle anti protectionism, which may not be a bad thing, but it’s out of character for Trump.
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If I remember correctly, Trump’s position is that he likes free trade up to a point, but there’s a difference between free trade and the United States getting ripped off.
When patriots elect Trump, Cruz, or whatever conservative they elect, they also need to elect a new, state sovereignty-respecting Congress that will not only work within its constitutional Article I, Section 8-limited powers to support the president, but also protect the states from unconstitutional federal government overreach as evidenced by unconstitutional federal healthcare programs, Obama’s or Trump’s.
Also, consider that such a Congress would probably be willing to fire state sovereignty-ignoring activist justices.
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In our defense, we tried to do that in 2002, 2004, 2010, and 2014.
Turns out they were lying through their teeth or ended up getting pictures of them in a hot tub with a pregnant bull REALLY fast.
There are limitations. What Trumps plan would do is deduct the full amount as if we’re a business expense.
The left will squawk about inequity of Cadillac plans. So there will probably be some ceiling placed, still a great idea.
“Here it is in writing.”
Yet, the screed of the evildoers still will be that “Trump has no plans or policies”.
I hate those people!
“Wish that he shovel less BS and present more ideas like this one”
Have you bothered to read his Policy papers which have been on his website for months?
His rhetoric will tone down to an executive level now that Christie is there as junk-yard dog. He’s used the tone he’s needed to since announcing his candidacy, and his presentation will change for this next step along the way.
Not exactly. Pre-ACA, being insured for a condition was no guarantee that you would remain covered if you changed insurance plans, or even if your insurance company chose to drop you at the end of your annual contract.
As a practical matter if you had group insurance through your employer you wouldn't have a problem, but the individual market was brutal.
I have personal experience of being unable to get insurance, at any price, when COBRA coverage expired, despite having been continuously covered for over 30 years.
You're right in that with the ACA insurance companies don't even ask about your medical history when writing policies any longer, but I assure you that if the ACA is repealed people with medical problems in their past will be right back where they started.
Unfortunately, that's not the case.
If you re-read that last bullet the deduction only applies to long term care insurance premiums.
Regular medical insurance premiums aren't deductible for individuals.
On average prices are 3 or 4 times higher, not 10.
Both parties are complicit with these companies to keep us trapped under their monopoly.
Not sure what monopoly you are talking about, we have several hundred US drug companies.
Good trade policy protects the industries we want and are strong and loosens trade in areas that benefit us the most. The idea that Trump wants zero trade is dumb and only imagined by the "Free Trader" cultists who hate him for opposing TPP.
The idea that somebody here is claiming that Trump wants "zero trade" is a dumb strawman fallacy imagined by hypersensitive Trump cultists.
US pharmaceutical companies employ close to a million people in this country and spend billions on research. Prices are cheaper in other countries because countries with socialized medicine negotiate prices and control patent law in those countries. Thus it's the US consumer who winds up paying a large share of the billions required for research.
As always there's a fine line between a company being able to make a profit and being able to produce new drugs.
US consumers being able to purchase cheaper drugs from foreign countries may or may not make it unprofitable for US drug companies to pay for future research. It's a fine line and there is no magic solution.
bkmk
3x, 4x, makes no difference to me. I was being hyperbolic, though I know of medicines in Mexico that are 10x cheaper there than here. Though how you acknowledge the 3x number and deny their stranglehold on us, I do not know.
As for the “research makes it more expensive here,” just a few months agoa company backtracked and reduced the price on AIDs medicine after the company raised the price by hundreds of dollars. It was only noticed because it toughed the sacred homo class. The guy who made the decision in the company was a former slimy hedge fund manager, and it was admitted there was no financial reason for it.
You have to be really naive to think that the reason it costs more than a thousand dollars to make snake bite medicine, when it costs a hundred or so in Mexico, is because socialism forces companies in other countries to lose money with every snake that gets harvested.
"Payments for insurance premiums you paid for policies that cover medical care OR for a qualified long-term care insurance policy covering qualified long-term care services.
Every year I use Turbotax. Under the section for medical expenses, one of the first questions it asks me is if I pay any medical insurance premiums that are not reimbursed by my employer, and it asks me to enter that amount. A few more questions are asked and entries made, and then it asks if we paid any long term care insurance premiums and to enter that amount. (Which we do, if I ever end up in a nursing home I don't expect taxpayers/strangers to pay for my nursing home expenses, it's the ethical and politically conservative thing to do).
Those are clearly both allowed as deductions. The issue is that they are subject to the 7.5% threshold so you can only deduct the amount of medical expenses that over 7.5% of AGI. That's a lot out of pocket before you ever get to deduct anything.
You're right.
The only point I'll add is if you and you're spouse are under 65 the threshold is 10% of AGI.
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