Obama Cuts Rank Backroom Deal With Unions On Health Care Cadillac Tax
Posted by Jim Hoft on Friday, January 15, 2010, 4:45 AM
The Obama White House cut another rank backroom deal with unions to downsize the proposed Cadillac tax on health care plans.
C-SPAN was not allowed in to broadcast the secret negotiations.
Of course, Barack Obama promised not to tax the Cadillac health care plans during the election and attacked John McCain for proposing such a tax:
The AP reported:
The White House reached a tentative agreement with union leaders early Thursday to tax high-cost insurance plans, officials said, removing one of the major stumbling blocks in the way of a final compromise on comprehensive health care legislation sought by President Barack Obama.
Complete details of the tentative deal were not immediately available, although the White House was expected to present it to senior lawmakers later in the day. Union leaders also were returning to the White House.
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., who led the opposition to the tax in the House, said the agreement involves several measures that would ease its impact. Among them: excluding the value of dental and vision benefits when applying the tax as well as raising the $23,000 threshold at which it would take effect for families.
Union officials are also pushing to provide that anyone who makes $200,000 or less would be excluded from the health plan benefits tax, a concession that would also benefit employees who are not unionized.
Radiovice Online has more on the backroom deal.
UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds has this from Megan Mc McArdle:
Special Deal for Labor Unions in Health Care Bill. “If you think that the Nebraska deal was unpopular, just wait until the administration announces higher taxes on everyone but its friends in the labor movement. We may see if the popularity of the health care bill still has room to fall.”
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Published May 24, 2012 at 8:46 pm - 52 Comments
Lynn commented:
Negotiating paying taxes at the White House?
Which door do the rest of us non-union people use to negotiate our taxes to “ease its impact” on our lives?
AVERY commented:
The half billion dollar they stealing from medicare will kill that ins. that old folk has paid into all their life.THE ILLEGAL THAT THEY WILL PUT ON MEDICAL WILL CAUSE ALL STATE TAX TO GO UP,UP,UP,UP.
bobc commented:
I have never seen a President do what Obama is doing….class warfare in all things!
Unions don’t have to pay the tax, but others do,….the Amish don’t have to buy the insurance, but others do, or go to jail!
He cuts Medicare in order to provide for his beloved illegals, when he gives amnesty.
He pits one citizen against another all the time…it is done on purpose!
Hedgehog commented:
Everyone knows this whole thing just stinks. The Commies are finally showing themselves. This is what happens whenever the government gets involved in anything.
olm commented:
The scary part about this is that they will keep Haiti front and center in the news because they know that all the racist tea bag people can be drawn in to that disaster.
We will wake up on day in about a week or 10 days and an Obamacare bill will go sailing through both houses. Or at least, I firmly believe, that is their plan.
Ruth commented:
I’m angry and agree with bobc. This is corruption at the highest, done in secret behind closed doors.
Where is the transparency????
aprilnovember811 commented:
Go to hell Obama!
Tom63010 commented:
You could start broadcasting around the summer of 2012 and play the promises versus lies of Barack Obama and MAYBE by the November election you would get to the last segment!
Perhaps broadcast it on a cable channel I heard that Oprah is starting her own cable channel perhaps we could call it penance!
Patrick in Des Moines commented:
This is suicide! In one day, they paid off their unions big time. First, banks that received Government money will pay a new tax/fine, but GM and their unions, who received billions, are exempt. And now union insurance plans are exempt.
What is union membership these days? Less than 20% of the country?
This is class warfare that will fail.
Too many people are not in unions to let this go unnoticed.
bill-tb commented:
And what does equal treatment under law mean?
Is this the way Obama was taught in Indonesia?
Maybe we would like to encourage some of those brain dead hollyweird types go down to their favorite boot-lick commie Chavez and report on how it’s going for the commie utopia.
This is third world tyranny.
Tom63010 commented:
to:olm
“The scary part about this is that they will keep Haiti front and center in the news because they know that all the racist tea bag people can be drawn in to that disaster.
We will wake up on day in about a week or 10 days and an Obamacare bill will go sailing through both houses. Or at least, I firmly believe, that is their plan.”
Nope, we can multitask!
olds-mo-william commented:
A Cadillac tax that exempts the Cadillac unions.
Patriot Act commented:
This really infuriates me. The unions already have wage, benefit, and pension packages that the vast majority of Americans could only dream of ever having, and the unions get special treatment?? Should be the other way around!
Jules Hamil commented:
My anger regarding the unions receiving preferential treatment has reached the boiling point. Citizens can talk, talk and more talk, write e-mails, letters, make calls but the Democrats are still “in control” and doing anything they want. My question to Americans is WHAT CAN WE DO rather than just talk? Are there no safeguards in our Constitution or laws against such outlandish behavior? Then, if there are safeguards, enforcement seems to be the next question. We are losing our Country right before our eyes.