Just when you thought you couldn’t be more cynical about the healthcare bill.
As I have said before, there wasn’t a lot of hope the same administration that ignored the rule of law in granting unions priority over Chrysler bondholders was going to offend them on the “Cadillac” tax.
We’ve seen the “Louisiana purchase” giving Sen. Mary Landrieu (D - La.) hundreds of millions for her vote, only to be upstaged by Sen. Ben Nelson’s (D - Neb.) Medicaid deal for Nebraska. Then the Democratic leadership claimed the $250 billion Medicare physician fee problem didn’t have anything to do with healthcare reform. Add to that a “robust” Medicare commission that can’t touch doctor or hospital costs.
Or, how about six years of benefits under the bill and ten years of taxes. Or, counting $70 billion from the new long-term care program as offsetting revenue to help pay for it.
Now, the unions and public employees are going to be exempt from the “Cadillac” excise tax on high cost plans until 2018.
It will be interesting to see how proponents, or should I say apologists, for this healthcare effort spin the latest. I would just ask that you please, please, please, not call this mess healthcare reform.
Robert Laszewski blogs regularly at Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review.