@Advocate,
Try these:
From PBS:
Should high-value insurance plans be taxed, or should high-income households pay the price?
The Senate proposal, which President Obama supports, would raise about $150 billion over six years. The money would come from imposing an excise tax of 40 percent on the portion of any policy that costs more than $8,500
(this was recently changed to $8,900) for individuals or $23,000 for families. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that would affect one in five workers by 2016. The White House and some economists argue this approach would rein in health care spending by discouraging excessive insurance coverage.
From Washington Watch:
The unions and the White House agreed on a higher threshold for what defines a Cadillac plan: $8,900 instead of $8,500 for an individual and $24,000 rather than $23,000 for a family of four. The tax rate remains 40% but it would hit fewer people.
From NewsObserver.com:
The Senate health care bill includes two major tax increases. The tax on high end plans would raise $149 billion by levying a 40 percent excise tax on insurance companies that offer plans costing more than $8,500 (what will happen when this is revised to $8,900?) for individual plans and $23,000 for family plans. It also would hike the Medicare payroll tax rate to 2.35 percent for individuals with more than $200,000 income and couples with more than $250,000, but would still exempt unearned income.
The House version of the bill, by contrast, would raise revenues by slapping a 5.4 percent income surtax on very wealthy people - individuals with more than $500,000 income, and couples with more than $1 million.
The Medicare tax
is emerging as an avenue for compromise between taxing wealthy people and taxing high-end plans. The focus on upper income people and unearned income bridges the House and Senate approaches, said House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.
Looks to me like they're still negotiating where and how much?
