Health Care Plan Charges ‘Poor’ More Money

I have intentionally kept quite about the new Health Care Bill that is trying to work its way through our governmental system because I don’t want to talk on something that I don’t have, really, any hard facts or information about. However, I saw this article in the Wall Street Journal this morning, and I am totally disgusted – Financially poor married couples will pay more under the new health care bill than any unmarried couples living together:

“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.”

And it’s not the folks with disposable income that this portion of the Bill affects, it’s the poor:

“For an unmarried couple with income of $25,000 each, combined premiums would be capped at $3,076 per year, under the House bill. If the couple gets married, with a combined income of $50,000, their annual premium cap jumps to $5,160 — a “penalty” of $2,084. Those figures were included in a memo prepared by House Republican staff.”

And how about this for two quotes from people familiar with the legislation:

“This seems to not only penalize the married, but also those who would have the most to gain from marriage — the poor” … Democratic staff who helped to write the bill confirmed the existence of the penalty, but said it cannot be remedied without creating other inequities.”

“Cannot be remedied” … Are you kidding me? I thought the whole point of this health care plan was to be able to provide health care access to all of those who couldn’t afford it?

I guess “access” is once again a relative term full of monetary stipulations. And I also guess that the government who says they care so much about the poor, the nuclear family, the instituion of marriage (secular perspective) and the divorce rate actually don’t. What a surprise.

Much love.