The Lonely Conservative
10/14/2013
Don’t you love how things go in Washington, DC. They started out fighting over defunding Obamacare. Then it was delaying the individual mandate and scrapping the medical device tax. Now it’s about giving the unions a tax break.
Labor unions are poised to score the delay of an ObamaCare tax in the bipartisan budget deal emerging in the Senate.
The bargain under negotiation would make small adjustments to the healthcare law, including delaying the law’s reinsurance fee for one year. The three-year tax is meant to generate revenue that will stabilize premiums on the individual market as sick patients enter the risk pool.
The tax applies to all group health plans, but unions argue it will raise their healthcare costs while providing them no benefit.
The reinsurance tax figured prominently in discussions at a recent AFL-CIO convention, where workers passed a resolution demanding changes to ObamaCare. (Read More)
The article goes on to note that the delay will cause trouble for health insurers. So it’s no wonder they’ll do it. It will just get them to their goal of a single payer system even quicker.
Related: Report: Tentative Senate Deal to Raise Debt Limit Until Feb. 15
…The plan under discussion would raise the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling by enough to cover the nation’s borrowing needs at least through mid-February 2014, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
It also would fund government operations through the middle of January, keeping in place the across-the-board “sequester” spending cuts that took effect in March. It would also set up a new round of budget talks that would try to strike a bargain by year’s end.
Any deal would also have to win approval in the House of Representatives, where conservative Republicans have insisted that any continued government funding must include measures to undercut President Barack Obama’s signature health law – a nonstarter for Democrats.
The deal would not resolve the disagreements over long-term spending and health care that led to the crisis in the first place. It would amount to a clear retreat for Republicans who have sought to tie any continued funding and borrowing authority to measures that would undercut Obama’s Affordable Care Act…
Also, Boehner Sidelined in Shutdown Fight
…when the Ohio Republican conceded Saturday his high-stakes talks with President Obama had collapsed, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wrested control…
Update: Rep. Labrador: Senate Republicans ‘pussyfooting’
Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday that he worries Senate Republicans will again kick the can down the road when it comes to the debt ceiling, a move that could hurt their chances of taking back the upper chamber in the upcoming 2014 elections.
“The problem with Senate Republicans is that they always want to have a fight the next time,” Labrador said. “They always want to wait until the next time. If they continue to pussyfoot around like they do in these battles, they’re never going to be able to take back the Senate.”
