House Deal on Health Subsidies Omits Key IssueBIG PROBLEM - Taxpayers Must Cover Unnecessary Costs For The Rich
But the proposed deal, which reportedly would force taxpayers to continue to pay for unnecessary medical expenses for some earning $400,000/yr would simply determine how long taxpayers will be forced to pay for medical expenses which are unnecessary, and do nothing to reduce them, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf. Instead of fighting over who should bear these astronomical and ever growing health insurance costs - those who seek the medical treatment, or other taxpayers - we should be asking why the costs are so outrageously high, and what can be done to substantially reduce them so that everyone pays much less; not only for Obamacare subsidies, but also under Medicaid, veterans benefits, and many other government programs, says Banzhaf. Fortunately, there is an easy way to slash unnecessary health care costs simply by doing what politicians from both parties have been promising for many years but never following through on: imposing personal responsibility. . . Require those who currently enjoy Medicaid and Obamacare insurance at taxpayer expense to either quit smoking, or to pay the huge costs which their smoking now imposes on the overwhelming majority of American taxpayers who do not smoke, suggests Banzhaf. One way to do this, as recommended by the NAIC, would be to require smokers to pay the excess costs their habit now unnecessarily imposes on taxpayers in order to keep their current health insurance coverage; just as smokers have always been required to pay more - at least a portion of their fair share - than nonsmokers for their life insurance; and in many cases also for their home and/or car insurance. It seems that the House members seeking to make a deal are proposing just what Prof. Banzhaf suggested days earlier; a temporary extension of Obamacare subsides with fixed phaseout dates and other conditions (e.g. changing income cutoffs and other conditions, work requirements, etc.) to end the shutdown. http://banzhaf.net/ End
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