Trump open to dropping healthcare provision in Senate tax bill - aide

[webfact]

Trump open to dropping healthcare provision in Senate tax bill - aide

By Lucia Mutikani and Valerie Volcovici

 

U.S. President Donald Trump examines his tie as he walks outside the White House between sessions greeting members of Championship NCAA athletic teams in Washington, U.S., November 17, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump would not insist on including repeal of an Obama-era health insurance mandate in a bill intended to enact the biggest overhaul of the tax code since the 1980s, a senior White House aide said on Sunday.

 

The version of tax legislation put forward by Senate Republican leaders would remove a requirement in former President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law that taxes Americans who decline to buy health insurance.

 

"If we can repeal part of Obamacare as part of a tax bill ... that can pass, that's great," White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

 

"If it becomes an impediment to getting the best tax bill we can, then we are O.K. with taking it out," Mulvaney said.

 

Getting rid of the so-called individual mandate is one of Republican Trump's main goals. He campaigned for president last year on a promise to repeal and replace his Democratic predecessor's 2010 Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, but Congress has so far not agreed on how to do that.

 

Another top Trump administration official, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, said the individual mandate was "not a bargaining chip" but said the White House would work with the Senate to get a tax bill passed this year.

 

"This is all about getting this passed in the Senate. This isn't a bargaining chip," Mnuchin said on "Fox News Sunday." "The president thinks we should get rid of it and I think we should get rid of it."

 

Mnuchin said the objective "right now" was to keep repeal of the mandate in the bill. "We are going to work with the Senate as we go through this. We are going got get something to the president to sign this year," he said.

 

The House of Representatives last week passed its tax bill. Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, consider a tax bill critical to their party’s prospects in the 2018 U.S. congressional elections.

 

SENATE VOTE AFTER THANKSGIVING

 

Trump had urged lawmakers to add repeal of the mandate to the tax bill, writing on Twitter last week that the provision was "unfair" and "highly unpopular." The next day, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did just that.

 

Republican senators who have been critical of the plan said that some middle-income taxpayers could see any benefits of the tax cuts wiped out by higher health insurance premiums if the repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s mandate goes through.

 

Among them was Senator Susan Collins, one of a handful of Republicans who voted in July to block a broader Republican attempt to dismantle Obamacare.

 

"I don't think that provision should be in the bill. I hope the Senate will follow the lead of the House and strike it," Collins said on CNN's "State of the Union."

 

Republican Senator Roy Blunt said he thinks the Senate bill will pass with or without the individual mandate repeal. "It depends on where the votes are," he told NBC's "Meet the Press."

 

Collins also wants the Senate to send more relief to middle income taxpayers by keeping the top tax rate of 39.6 percent for people who make 1 million or more a year, as the House does.

 

Collins has emerged as a pivotal lawmaker in the tax debate, along with Republican senators John McCain, Lisa Murkowski and Ron Johnson, all of whom are also on the fence about it.

 

The Senate bill needs work, Collins told ABC's "This Week."

 

"I want to see changes in that bill," she said. "And I think there will be changes."

 

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani and Valerie Volcovici; Additional reporting by Caren Bohan and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Grant McCool)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-20

[Langsuan Man]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump would not insist on including repeal of an Obama-era health insurance mandate in a bill intended to enact the biggest overhaul of the tax code since the 1980s, a senior White House aide said on Sunday.

It isn't official until it is tweeted.........by THE REAL DONALD TRUMP

[Boon Mee]

Should have been eliminated a long time ago. 

[FreddieRoyle]

Undoing the Obama regimes disastrous policies is certainly wasting too much of Trumps time. Is there no way all laws can just be changed to be as they were the day before Obama took office? It seems he has managed to ruin pretty much everything. Of course getting the trillions back from Iran and North Korea will be more effort than it's worth, but I would advocate wiping everything Obama did from the history books and trying to forget the guy ever existed, before the current divisions turn into full-blown civil war.

 Kudos again to Trump for doing his best across multiple theaters, and although they haven't been to everybodys taste, the Trump tweets have been an easy way to assure it isn't made-up news.

[craigt3365]

55 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Should have been eliminated a long time ago. 

Should have been fixed rather than eliminated.  There are no good alternatives right now.  It's better than nothing.

 

My brother uses this and loves it.  He's been uninsured for years as he's a freelance pharmacist.  Paid by the hour.

[retarius]

The mandate benefits the insurance companies as the premiums are now very expensive. My son is 40 and his premium is over $400 a month. The tax fine for those that don't purchase insurance is 2.5% of household income (I don't know if it is AGI or gross) or $695 per person whichever in the greater. Either way it is a tax on people who don't get benefits with their jobs...and incidentally I have no idea why when you get free cover for your family via your job, why it is not taxed as a benefit in kind. I know the middle classes would howl at such a suggestion but of your company gives you a free car or a free loan or a free airplane, you get taxed on the value of what is given to you.

 

 

[craigt3365]

20 minutes ago, retarius said:

The mandate benefits the insurance companies as the premiums are now very expensive. My son is 40 and his premium is over $400 a month. The tax fine for those that don't purchase insurance is 2.5% of household income (I don't know if it is AGI or gross) or $695 per person whichever in the greater. Either way it is a tax on people who don't get benefits with their jobs...and incidentally I have no idea why when you get free cover for your family via your job, why it is not taxed as a benefit in kind. I know the middle classes would howl at such a suggestion but of your company gives you a free car or a free loan or a free airplane, you get taxed on the value of what is given to you.

If you are even a small part American Indian, you can get a wavier for the program.

 

100% agree with your post.

[Thaidream]

If the Republicans and Trump really wanted to help America and is citizens- they would move to a single payer system paid by the  Medicare tax already coming put of a worker's salary. This would give people universal healthcare; get rid of greedy insurance companies; force Big Pharma to lower prices and bring America into the 21st Century just like all of Europe; Japan; Canada and even Thailand.  It won't happen because the Republicans and Trump work for only the wealthy not for the rest of America.

 

As far as the tax bill- I have read the bill and it is a disaster except if you are wealthy. It eliminates the estate tax which benefits only the super rich and provides at most a $1000 a year lowering of some of the middle class and poor taxes but eliminates all of the deductions for medical care; casualty and theft and state and local taxes.  In essence, the tax bill steals from the poor and gives to the rich.  It is the biggest scam I have ever seen. Couple this with ever increasing medical costs and a $70 Billion increase in the defense budget, already the highest in the World and increasing the deficit by $1.5 Trillion there is nothing but pure crap in this bill.

 

If the House and Senate pass this tax bill- it is simply a reinforcement of the fact that the Republican administration wants a  'win' at any cost and is willing to do it off the backs of the poor and middle class. Absolute incompetence!!!

[Jingthing]

I totally agree the USA needs to move towards a national health care system of which there are many models in the world already working much better and at much lower costs than the messed up USA system.

But to say existing Medicare payroll taxes would fully pay for such a program is ridiculously wrong in the extreme. 

[Thaidream]

I never meant to indicate that the current deduction would pay for universal healthcare-only that there is a system in effect to collect the funds.  If using $695.00 as a guide that one would have to pay for an individual mandate- that would be added on to the current medicare tax ; at the same time the defense budget can be cut by at least $100 Billion and some of the government departments eliminated .  there is plenty of pork in the US budget to pay for universal healthcare. We can also eliminate the 15,000 added IRS agents that would be hired as part of the individual mandate under Obamacare. 

If the UK; Japan and every  industrialized country in the World can provide universal healthcare- certainly a country as wealthy as America can do it.

[Foozool]

Senators don't work for people, but they do work hard for their supporters such as insurance companies. Insurances put pressure on GOP to find a way to pass the best case scenario. Insurance companies are legal gangsters who suck people's blood for more profit. 

Gangesters deciced to work legally after losing battle over smogling alcohol. They began with insurances and casinos in LV. 

[Trouble]

6 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

Should have been fixed rather than eliminated.  There are no good alternatives right now.  It's better than nothing.

 

My brother uses this and loves it.  He's been uninsured for years as he's a freelance pharmacist.  Paid by the hour.

The mandate goes to subsidize healthcare for others.  Having insurance coverage under the Obamacare banner and paying for it is one thing (which may or may not be the case of your brother). However, forcing others to subsidize it for your brother is flat out wrong. He probably does like it very much if he is getting a discounted rate for his health care paid for on the backs of others. 

[stevenl]

7 hours ago, Trouble said:

The mandate goes to subsidize healthcare for others.  Having insurance coverage under the Obamacare banner and paying for it is one thing (which may or may not be the case of your brother). However, forcing others to subsidize it for your brother is flat out wrong. He probably does like it very much if he is getting a discounted rate for his health care paid for on the backs of others. 

Solidarity is the basic principle of health care insurance.

[attrayant]

9 hours ago, Trouble said:

forcing others to subsidize [health care] for your brother is flat out wrong.

 

 

Why?

[gk10002000]

I find the tax penalty if one doesn't buy or have insurance to be disgusting and I don't know how the Supreme Court could allow that, but they did.  If a new law is passed that removes the tax penalty to those that don't carry insurance.......  Well thinking out loud, that would probably lower the incentive for a few million people to buy insurance.  So maybe, some insurance products will now show up that allow people to buy only what they want, maybe catastrophic plans, or minimal coverage, or whatever.  Maybe some competition will creep back in to the health care system.  The problem is if the law will allow companies to sell "non qualified plans", the ones that Obamacare mandates.  If that part stays law, well, then I guess one can hope that some price competition shows up, or the insurance companies find some way to sell their stuff without it being law

[gk10002000]

16 hours ago, retarius said:

The mandate benefits the insurance companies as the premiums are now very expensive. My son is 40 and his premium is over $400 a month. The tax fine for those that don't purchase insurance is 2.5% of household income (I don't know if it is AGI or gross) or $695 per person whichever in the greater. Either way it is a tax on people who don't get benefits with their jobs...and incidentally I have no idea why when you get free cover for your family via your job, why it is not taxed as a benefit in kind. I know the middle classes would howl at such a suggestion but of your company gives you a free car or a free loan or a free airplane, you get taxed on the value of what is given to you.

 

 

I am 60, single zero medical issues.  I have been an independent contractor for 19 years and carried Florida BLue cross blue shield. It started at like 66/month.  My last bill in 2017 was 350/month and this year, it would have been over 500/month. The cheapest FLorida worst plan is $540.  I make too much for any subsidies, and wouldn't like the paperwork and dealing with another government agency like healthcare.gov anyway.  So lucky for me, last year the company I was a contractor for made me a direct hire offer and I accepted.  I pay $81/mo for medical and dental and it is a very good plan.  So while my salary is a bit less than I made as a contractor, even with tax free per diem as I lived and worked away from home, the insurance alone saves me 400/month or almost $5,000 a year Net, i.e. take home.  I have a lot of options between now and 65 with medicare.  If the job gets a little more fun, I may stay on.  If not, I would have no problem spending 11 months of the year overseas to be exempt from Obamacare.  I also can qualify for free or very low Veteran's medical care, If, I lower my passive income.  I could do that, but selling a lot of things off to reduce my dividends and interest. The VA is funny.  Currently, they won't even accept an application if you make above a certain threshold, like 35K in Florida.  And they count your MAGI which includes even tax free interest and dividends like from muni bonds or muni funds.  So I dodge most federal taxes, but then have to navigate the health care maze.

[Jingthing]

I am 60, single zero medical issues.  I have been an independent contractor for 19 years and carried Florida BLue cross blue shield. It started at like 66/month.  My last bill in 2017 was 350/month and this year, it would have been over 500/month. The cheapest FLorida worst plan is $540.  I make too much for any subsidies, and wouldn't like the paperwork and dealing with another government agency like healthcare.gov anyway.  So lucky for me, last year the company I was a contractor for made me a direct hire offer and I accepted.  I pay $81/mo for medical and dental and it is a very good plan.  So while my salary is a bit less than I made as a contractor, even with tax free per diem as I lived and worked away from home, the insurance alone saves me 400/month or almost $5,000 a year Net, i.e. take home.  I have a lot of options between now and 65 with medicare.  If the job gets a little more fun, I may stay on.  If not, I would have no problem spending 11 months of the year overseas to be exempt from Obamacare.  I also can qualify for free or very low Veteran's medical care, If, I lower my passive income.  I could do that, but selling a lot of things off to reduce my dividends and interest. The VA is funny.  Currently, they won't even accept an application if you make above a certain threshold, like 35K in Florida.  And they count your MAGI which includes even tax free interest and dividends like from muni bonds or muni funds.  So I dodge most federal taxes, but then have to navigate the health care maze.

You've got a specific situation but we all do. I think your post is another strong argument for a universal system. Look at all the complexities you need to consider. In some ways you are planning your life based on how you can make the health care access and cost work for you. It shouldn't need to be that way.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Jingthing]

"Cut cut cut" trump tax plan?

Tax SCAM more like!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/11/21/the-trump-tax-plan-is-much-worse-than-you-thought-a-new-analysis-confirms-it/

Quote

 

The Trump tax plan is much worse than you thought. A new analysis confirms it.

...

Here is the key takeaway from the new analysis, which is the work of the Tax Policy Center: By 2027, around 50 percent of taxpayers will see a tax hike. The whole purpose of this tax increase is to make it possible for Senate Republicans to pass a tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the very wealthiest taxpayers — on party lines, without any Democrats.

 

 

Edited November 21, 2017 by Jingthing