From the
House Committee on Ways and Means
2009
•
Medicare cuts to hospitals begin (long?term care (7/1/09) and inpatient and rehabilitation facilities (FY10))
2010
• Provide income exclusion for specified Indian tribe health benefits provided after 3/23/10
• Temporary
high?risk pool and
high?cost union retiree reinsurance ($5 B each for 3.5 years) (6/23/10)
• Impose
10% tax on indoor UV tanning (7/1/10)
•
Medicare cuts to inpatient psych hospitals (7/1/10)
•
Prohibits lifetime and annual benefit for private insurers spending limits (plan years beginning 9/23/10)
•
Prohibits non?group private insurance plans from canceling coverage (rescissions) (plan years beginning 9/23/10)
•
Requires private insurance plans to cover, at no charge, most preventive care (plan years beginning 9/23/10)
•
Requires private insurance plans to allow dependents to stay on parents’ policies through age 26 (plan years
beginning 9/23/10)
• Hospitals in “Frontier States” (ND, MT, WY, SD, UT ) receive higher Medicare payments (FY11)
2011
• Hospitals in “low?cost” areas receive higher Medicare payments for 2 yrs ($400 million, FY11)
• Medicare Advantage
cuts begin
•
No longer allowed to use FSA, HSA, HRA, Archer MSA distributions for over?the-counter medicines
•
Medicare cuts to home health begin
•
Medicare cuts for wealthier seniors ($85k/$170k), who are forced to pay higher Part D premiums (not indexed for inflation in Parts B/D)
•
Medicare reimbursement cuts when seniors use diagnostic imaging like MRIs, CT scans, etc.
•
Medicare cuts begin to ambulance services, ASCs, diagnostic labs, and durable medical equipment
•
Impose new annual tax on brand name pharmaceutical companies
•
Americans begin paying premiums for federal long?term care insurance (the CLASS Act, which analysis indicates is a ticking fiscal time-bomb)
• Private insurance plans
required to spend a minimum of 80% of premiums on medical claims (where 65% is considered the maximum “safe” amount to cover claims). Prior experience at the state level will indisputably harm private health insurance business.
• Physicians in “Frontier States” (ND, MT, WY, SD, UT ) receive higher Medicare payments
•
Prohibition on Medicare payments to new physician?owned hospitals (which will dramatically reduce access to senior care)
•
Penalties for non?qualified HSA and Archer MSA distributions double (to 20%)
•
Seniors prohibited from purchasing power wheelchairs unless they first rent for 13 months
•
New Medicare cuts to long?term care hospitals begin (7/1/11)
•
Additional Medicare cuts to hospitals and cuts to nursing homes and inpatient rehab facilities begin (FY12)
•
New taxes on all private health insurance policies to pay for comparative effectivness research (plan
years beginning FY12)
2012
•
Medicare cuts to dialysis treatment begins
•
Medicare to cut spending by using an HMO?like coordinated care model (Accountable Care Organizations)
•
New Medicare cuts to inpatient psych hospitals (7/1/12)
•
Medicare cuts to hospitals with high readmission rates begin (FY13)
•
Medicare cuts to hospice begin (FY13)
2013
•
Impose $2,500 annual cap on FSA contributions (indexed to CPI)
•
Increase Medicare wage tax by 0.9% and impose a new 3.8% tax on unearned , nonactive business income for those earning over $200k/$250k (not indexed to inflation)
• Generally increases (7.5% to 10%) threshold at which medical expenses, as a % of income, can be deductible
•
Eliminate deduction for Part D retiree drug subsidy employers receive
•
Impose 2.3% excise tax on medical devices
•
Medicare cuts to hospitals who treat low?income seniors begin
• $500,000 deduction cap on compensation paid to insurance company employees and officers
2014
•
Unconstitutional personal mandate begins: Individuals without government?approved coverage are subject to a tax of the greater of $695 or 2.5% of income
• Employers who fail to offer “affordable” coverage would pay a $3,000
penalty for every employee that receives a subsidy through the Exchange
• Employers who do not offer insurance must pay a
tax penalty of $2,000 for every fulltime employee
•
More Medicare cuts to home health begin
• All non?grandfathered and Exchange health plans
required to meet federally mandated levels of coverage
•
States must cover parents /childless adults up to 138% of poverty on Medicaid, receive increased FMAP
• Tax credits available for Exchange?based coverage, amount varies by income up to 400% of poverty
• Private insurers
cannot impose any coverage restrictions on pre?existing conditions (guaranteed issue/renewability, which will bankrupt insurance providers)
• Private insurers
must offer coverage to anyone wanting a policy and every policy has to be renewed (which will bankrupt insurance providers)
• Insurance plans must include government?defined “essential benefits ” and coverage levels
• Government board (IPAB) begins submitting proposals to
cut Medicare
•
Impose tax on nearly all private health insurance plans
•
Medicare payment cuts for hospital?acquired infections begin (FY15)
2015
•
More Medicare cuts to home health begin
2016
•
Impose “Cadillac tax on “high cost” plans, 40% tax on the benefit value above a certain threshold: ($10,200 individual coverage, $27,500 family or self?only union multiemployer coverage)
H/T directorblue - Green Room - Hot Air.com
