Married Couples Pay More Than Unmarried Under Health Bill

Wall Street Journal

Married Couples Pay More Than Unmarried Under Health Bill

WASHINGTON -- Some married couples would pay thousands of dollars more for the same health insurance coverage as unmarried people living together, under the health insurance overhaul plan pending in Congress.

The built-in "marriage penalty" in both House and Senate healthcare bills has received scant attention. But for scores of low-income and middle-income couples, it could mean a hike of $2,000 or more in annual insurance premiums the moment they say "I do."

The disparity comes about in part because subsidies for purchasing health insurance under the plan from congressional Democrats are pegged to federal poverty guidelines. That has the effect of limiting subsidies for married couples with a combined income, compared to if the individuals are single.

People who get their health insurance through an employer wouldn't be affected. Only people that buy subsidized insurance through new exchanges set up by the legislation stand to be impacted. About 17 million people would receive such subsidies in 2016 under the House plan, the Congressional Budget Office estimates.

The healthcare bill just keeps getting better & better. What's more, this wasn't just some oversite, the Democrats did this ON PURPOSE!

Life Site News

Democratic staff responsible for writing portions of the bill told the Journal that health-care legislation did include a marriage penalty. However they defended the existence of the penalty on the grounds that making government subsidies neutral toward marriage would lead to married couples with a sole breadwinner receiving more in subsidies than a single-parent of the same income - a situation they regard as unfair.

But others counter that the injustice lies in discouraging individuals struggling to make ends meet from seeking the benefits of marriage.

"This seems to not only penalize the married, but also those who would have the most to gain from marriage -- the poor," Jenny Tyree, an analyst at the Colorado-based Focus on the Family, told the Journal.

And the war to destroy the traditional family continues...

The more I learn about the Health Care Bill, the more I come to despise it.

Every provision of this monstrous bill seems hell bent to raise costs on the most vunrable among us, the young and the poor. The very people who voted the Democrats into power. Hows that for a doublecross?

The Democrats swept into power on their populist rhetoric about how they were for the little guy and were going to take on big business.

Now their proudest achievement is nothing but a major bow to the insurance industry. Anti-poor, anti-young, anti-everybody except the big insurance companies who will be lining their pockets for years thanks to this new legislation.

If this doesn't proove to the world that the big corporations really control our governments, then I guess nothing will.


WAKE UP DEMOCRATS, THE PEOPLE YOU VOTED INTO OFFICE ARE NO BETTER THAN THE REPUBLICANS YOU VOTED OUT!




[edit on 9-1-2010 by FortAnthem]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ebbf57d62bea.jpg[/atsimg]

Not sure this is going to change much in regards to marriage. I guess there wil be fewer lawyers in the world, which is good.
source

[edit on 9-1-2010 by heyo]

reply to post by heyo


It just goes to show their agenda is working. They've been at war with the traditional family for decades.

Study upon study has shown the disasterous effects on children raised in single parent families. The likelyhood of their growing up to be undisciplined irresponsible adults is greatly increased by the single-parent household.

TPTB want a generation of undisciplined irrisponsible adults so they can increase the police state to control them and the welfare state to cloth, house and feed those who don't end up in prison.

All the pieces are falling into place for the NWO.

I keep telling people about stuff like this in the healthcare bill and they just don't believe me...
I really hate the MSM, they should be working for the people [just like our elected officials] and should be reporting on this crap...I'm really getting fed up with politics...even local stuff...a time when every city/county/state is in debt our city manager retired making $240,000 a year...wtf we're only a small city of 50k people! lol anyways...off topic rant...

WAKE UP AMERICA!

Married men for eons now have died well before their wives, (because they want to) Now our government is denying every married mans only out!