Grace-Marie Turner in the Washington Examiner:
Hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxpayer subsidies would be needed to help Americans pay for this rich coverage.
Families that don’t buy insurance would face a new tax of up to $1,900 a year. People with expensive health insurance likely would be hit with a 40 percent premium increase as their insurance companies pass a new excise tax on to them.
Young people would face higher premiums to subsidize older Americans. And the government would tell everyone how much they can afford to pay for all of their health costs, up to $20,000 a year for those with incomes above $96,000, for example.
Further, employers would be required to provide health insurance, help their workers pay premiums, or face penalties. Many of them don’t believe the promised government subsidies for some small businesses would help and say the new burden would lead to less hiring and more layoffs.
The mandate also puts the federal government in the business of regulating health insurance, inevitably triggering price controls and leading to restrictions on access to care.
Only one in five Americans say their health insurance coverage and the quality of the care they receive will improve if a bill passes Congress this year. How right they are!