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Sunday night March 21st 2010, Congress passed dramatic legislation
that will forever change the way healthcare is operated in the
United States. These are the key components of the $940
billion health care overhaul bill (H.R. 3590) that is scheduled to
take almost a decade to roll out in full.
2010 - Coverage
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Subsidies begin for small businesses to provide coverage to
employees.
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Insurance companies barred from denying coverage to children with
pre-existing illness.
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Children permitted to stay on their parents' insurance policies
until their 26th birthday.
2011 - Coverage and Taxes/Fees
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Set up long-term care program in which people pay premiums into
system for at least five years and then become eligible for support
payments if they need assistance in daily living.
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Drug makers face annual fee of $2.5 billion (rises in
subsequent years).
2013 - Coverage and Taxes/Fees
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New Medicare taxes on individuals earning more than $200,000 a
year and couples filing jointly earning more than $250,000 a year.
Tax on wages rises to 2.35% from 1.45%. New 3.8% tax on unearned
income such as dividends and interest.
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Excise tax of 2.9% imposed on sale of medical
devices.
2014 - Coverage and Taxes/Fees and Cost Control
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Create exchanges where people without employer coverage, as well as
small businesses, can shop for health coverage. Insurance companies
barred from denying coverage to anyone with pre-existing
illness.
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Requirement begins for most people to have health insurance.
Subsidies begin for lower and middle-income people. People at 133%
of federal poverty level pay maximum of 3% of income for coverage.
People 400% of poverty level pay up to 9.5% of income. (Poverty
level currently is about $22,000 for a family of
four.)
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Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor, expands to all
Americans with income up to 133% of federal poverty
level.
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Subsidies for small businesses to provide coverage increases.
Businesses with 10 or fewer employees and average annual wages of
less than $25,000 receive tax credit of up to 50% of employer's
contribution. Tax credits phase out for larger
businesses.
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Independent Medicare board must begin to submit recommendations to
curb Medicare spending, if the costs are rising faster than
inflation.
2016 - Taxes/Fees
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Penalty for individuals who don't carry coverage rises to 2.5% of
taxable income or $695, whichever is greater.
2017 - Coverage
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Businesses with more than 100 employees can buy coverage on
insurance exchanges, if state permits it.
2018 - Taxes/Fees
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Excise tax of 40% imposed on health plans valued at more than
$10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for family
coverage.
In addition, Congress passed an addition 'healthcare fix' bill
(H.R. 4872) that has been sent to the Senate with more changes to
the health care system by adding hudreds more pages of
changes to the already 2000+ pages from the original
Bill. Included in this 'fix' is also a government takeover of all
student loans.
How the Northwest Members of Congress voted:
Washington:
Inslee
D (WA-1)
Yes
Larsen D
(WA-2)
Yes
Baird D
(WA-3)
Yes
Hastings R
(WA-4)
No
McMorris Rodgers R (WA-5)
No
Dicks D
(WA-6)
Yes
McDermott D
(WA-7)
Yes
Riechert R
(WA-8)
No
Smith D
(WA-9)
Yes
Minnick D
(ID-1)
No
Simpson R
(ID-2)
No
Walden R
(OR-2)
No
*Information obtained from National Write Your
Congressman
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