(TheBlaze/AP)/ Billy Hallowell
Photo Credit: AP |
Starting in 2014, President Barack Obama’s health
care law will expand coverage to some 30 million uninsured people. At
the same time, insurers no longer will be allowed to turn away those in
poor health, and virtually every American will be required to have
health insurance — or pay a fine. Insurance will be available through an
employer or a government program or by buying it on their own.
For the vast majority of people, the health care law won’t mean
sending more money to the Internal Revenue Service. But the wealthiest
two percent of Americans will take the biggest hit, starting next year.
And roughly 20 million people eventually will benefit from tax credits that start in 2014 to help them pay insurance premiums.
Here’s a look at some of the major taxes and fees, estimated to total nearly $700 billion over 10 years.
- Upper-income households. Starting Jan. 1, individuals making more
than $200,000 per year, and couples making more than $250,000 will face a
0.9 percent Medicare tax increase on wages above those threshold
amounts. They’ll also face an additional 3.8 percent tax on investment
income. Together these are the biggest tax increase in the health care
law.
- Employer penalties. Starting in 2014, companies with 50 or more
employees that do not offer coverage will face penalties if at least one
of their employees receives government-subsidized coverage. The penalty
is $2,000 per employee, but a company’s first 30 workers don’t count
toward the total.
- Health care industries. Insurers, drug companies and medical device
manufacturers face new fees and taxes. Companies that make medical
equipment sold chiefly through doctors and hospitals, such as
pacemakers, artificial hips and coronary stents, will pay a 2.3 percent
excise tax on their sales, expected to total $1.7 billion in its first
year, 2013. They’re trying to get it repealed.
The insurance industry faces an annual fee that starts at $8 billion in its first year, 2014.
Pharmaceutical companies that make or import brand-name drugs are
already paying fees; they totaled $2.5 billion in 2011, their first
year.
- People who don’t get health insurance. Nearly 6 million people who
don’t get health insurance will face tax penalties starting in 2014. The
fines are estimated to raise $6.9 billion in 2016. Average penalty in
that year: about $1,200.
- Indoor tanning devotees. The 10 percent sales tax on indoor tanning
sessions took effect in 2010. It’s expected to raise $1.5 billion over
10 years.
The 28 million people who visit tanning booths and beds each year —
most of them are women under 30, according to the Journal of the
American Academy of Dermatology — are already paying.
Tanning salons were singled out because of strong medical evidence
that exposure to ultraviolet lights increases the risk of skin cancer.
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