Business, labor team up to fight health-care taxes
The AFL-CIO and the state Business Council are teaming up to oppose Gov. David Paterson’s plans to increase health-insurance taxes to help balance the 2009-10 budget, saying they would make coverage more expensive but do nothing to lower the cost og health care. It could lead some employers to drop coverage, increasung the ranks of the state’s uninsured, they said.
“As the cost of health care go up with these taxes, surcharges and fees, it makes it harder and harder for us to negotiate health-care benefits for our members,” said Denis Hughes, president of the state AFL-CIO. “Now what happens at that point is that because of the economics of this whole thing, especially in non-organized, non-union situations, employers are not able to afford the health care. People come off the rolls. When they come off the rolls, the burden is put on the State of New York, which needs to raise more taxes to continue this continuum.”
In legislation last month to reduce the state’s budget deficit, the Legislature increased health-insurance taxes by $348 million. The current fiscal year ends March 31, and Paterson’s 2009-10 buget proposal calls for $481 million in new and increased taxes. New York faces a $14 billion budget deficit.
A spokesman for Paterson defended the proposal. ”Given the state fiscal crisis, every single area of the health care industry, including insurance companies, will have to contribute toward addressing a record $14 billion deficit. But we do not believe these increases will be passed along to consumers. Insurance companies have significant reserves and are members of a very competitive industry, which will help mitigate any potential impact,” said Matt Anderson, the spokesman.
Some examples proposed taxes are:
—$180 million by increasing the state Insurance Department’s assessment on New York insurers; an estimated $108 million would have to be paid by the health insurers.
—$126 million by increasing the Health Care Reform Act’s hospital services tax from 8.95 percent to 9.63 percent.
—$63 million from establishing a third-party administrator claims processing fee, a $1 assessment in health, dental, pharmaceutical and vision claims valued a more than $20.
“The question then is if we really want to make health care more affordable, why are we making it more expensive,” said Kenneth Adams, president and CEO of the Business Council of New York State.
“So this only … increases health-care costs, which are crushing our economy,” said Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City.
| 
Email This
Advertisements
“We do not believe these increases will be passed along to consumers…” The ignorance and arrogance of this Albany bunch can make one’s blood boil. They are either terminally stupid or outright liars, or both. Every time you get the impression that this governor is starting to see the light, he comes up with something that makes you realize he’s moronic and mendacious.
one thing is for sure..this governor will not be
the next governor…although he claims to be legally
blind..in fact he is tone deaf…he really has no
ability to relate to the current economic climate
after giving his aides a raise ..he freezes their
salaries..of course at the higher number..why doesn’t
he roll back their salaries?...this governor
is an accidental governor..and say what you want
about elliot spitzer and that is plenty..had he still
been in office he would have dealt with the issues
facing the state in an entirely different manner..
this governor does not understand business…nor has
he the gumpshun to deal effectively with the unions
Who would have believed that things would get so bad that we’d be pining for a devil of decisiveness, like Spitzer? Goes to show how that Lt Governor’s job shouldn’t be given to any neophyte backslapper despite the machiavellian system of corralling automatic votes, ethnic or gender- based.
ed 1..things are so bad..that in california there are tent
cities with middle class residents who had good jobs
but lost them….things are so bad that warrent buffet today
said that the economy fell of a cliff..things are so
bad that the paradox of savings exists..ie if everyone
saves, which is normally good, the economy suffers because
no one spends, things are so bad that GE is selling for
7 dollars yielding 17%..but no one will buy it because
they are afraid it will go to 4….and we are dithering
around here in westchester with people who have no idea
of what is in for this republic..they don’t get it
they are still into personal attacks…they are into
revenge they are into their own political agenda
when the issues are way over their heads…they really
don’t understand that trillions of dollars in wealth
have been lost…that asking for the abolishment of county
government is the last thing that we should be focusing
on..that the governments at all levels need to be spending
and putting more money in the economy not cutting taxes
not at this time..maybe when we recover…too bad
most people are selfish..they want instant gratification
let them take a look at their charge cards…and then
we can talk
My father told me that during the depression, the only kids in his neighborhood who had decent shoes were those whose fathers worked for the Post Office (and this was Larchmont.) Most of the kids had to take off their shoes after school and play ball in the fields barefoot. We’re coming full circle to where bureaucratic, non-productive government jobs with guarantees are prized and entrepreneurs are punished. Who could have foreseen what the teachers’ pay packages would become, or the pay of a patrolman who for twenty years can’t pass a sergeant’s test? I personally don’t begrudge these “public servants” who have become bourgeoisie, but who will be left to pay for it all?
you raise an excellent point..that is because the unions
have political power..they make contributions and they
provide resources so that politicians of both parties
become wholely owned subsidiaries…now it is time to
pay the piper…naturally those young kids seeing how
great and safe it is to become a teacher won’t take
the risk that they would have to take going into
a private business…it is far safer to have the rest
of the population pick up the tab whether you are productive or not…so until we learn to say no
to the unions, to cap retirement pay and stop letting
overtime be inflated to compute that pension, and until
we start paying salaries based on merit even in
governement, the cost of government in the form of
taxes both local and federal will keep going up
You must be psychic. You totaly read my mind, Because this is exactly what I was thinking about When I stumbled across this site Posting this on facebook now. Now stay outa my brain.