GOP Health Care Bill and Medicare Financial Solvency
Eric Roehm, MD March 8, 2017, updated June 28, 2017
The Senate GOP health bill does away with a 0.9% tax on income that goes directly into Medicare’s coffers. (The House GOP health bill takes this money away from Medicare as well.) This tax only applies to income that is greater than $200,000/year (or $250,000/year joint). Every dollar of this tax goes directly into the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund. This is the same Medicare trust fund that is used to assess Medicare’s financial solvency. The Congressional Joint Commission on Taxation estimates that continuing this tax would generate $117 billion for the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund over the next 10 years.
Since the entire Hospital Insurance Trust Fund was $194 billion dollars at the end of 2015, this can be seen to be a significant amount of money for the Medicare system. Medicare financial solvency will be reduced without this tax money coming to the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund.
Those who have an interest in maintaining the financial solvency of the Medicare system should be concerned.
www.NutritionHeart.com/Medicare-at-Risk
