Search This Blog

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Senate's Christmas Eve Health Reform

As you know it passed 60 - 39 at 7:15 a.m., one Republican did not vote.

We still don't really know what this thing is going to be because now that it has passed the Senate, it has to be reconciled with the bill passed by the House in November.

Its here, probably doesn't go into effect till 2014 or so. Who knows what kind of power dynamics will shift what happened today in the next 4 years.

One might suspect that if employment picks up, Obama has a shot at re-election. Some say this is an Obama victory.

McClatchy: It's done: Senate approves health care overhaul, 60-39
The House wants to impose a 5.4 percent income tax surcharge on individuals earning $500,000 and couples making more than $1 million, starting in 2011, a change that would begin to restore some of the Bush era tax cuts.

But the Senate has other ideas, preferring a 40 percent excise tax on more expensive employer-sponsored insurance plans and a 0.9 percentage point increase in the 1.45 percent Medicare tax on the wealthy.

No comments: