Huh: “California” Is Getting To Raise Health Insurance Tax

Democrats: “How dare Republicans allow a subsidy lapse for the Ocare market! Health insurance is too much!”

Also Democrats:

California is getting ready to increase a health insurance tax. Will it affect your premium?

Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón, a Santa Barbara Democrat, told reporters earlier this week that there was no perfect plan for redesigning the tax and that the Senate still has concerns, but the proposal they voted through is one that would bring in money quickly.

“We have as a Senate been very clear that we needed revenue … it was a matter of making a decision which we could troubleshoot given what is happening at the federal level,” Limón said.

As part of the tax and spending law Congress passed last summer, the federal government imposed new restrictions on provider taxes, including the one imposed on health plans. Under existing rules, California received almost $8 billion annually from this tax; the new limits mean the state will receive billions less. The Legislature’s plan tries to fill at least some of that gap.

The plan does not directly raise health insurance premiums. Instead it imposes a higher tax on private plans, which have said they’d pass the cost down to consumers.

By “California” the LA Times means “Democrats”, who run the People’s Republic Of California general assembly with an iron fist. They can pretty much do whatever they want. And what they want is to tax the hell out of people who have health insurance.

The proposal would require all health plans, both public and private, to pay a monthly rate of $8.85 per enrollee — a total cost of about $1.5 billion a year for private plans. If health plans pass the entire tax to their members, Californians could see about a 1.5% increase in their monthly premiums, according to the independent Legislative Analyst’s Office. That’s on top of the yearly premium rate increases that people see year to year.

Doesn’t seem like a lot, but, health insurance costs are sky high in the PRC, along with everything else. And don’t forget they high cost of deductibles and how the availability of actual care is limited because of all the illegals in California

The California Assn. of Health Plans, the health insurance lobby, estimates this would translate to consumers paying about $100 more in premiums each year. That means a family of four could be looking at $400 more a year in health premiums.

Democrats will say “it’s just $400, no biggie”, because all these people making the laws are rich and/or get lots of graft money. Hey, maybe if California wasn’t spending $9.5 billion a year on healthcare for illegals it wouldn’t be an issue.

Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, a San Diego Democrat, said she found the tax plan “extremely problematic” as she questioned the administration during a hearing Wednesday. “I am very uncomfortable with this proposal and the economic burden it will have on the families I serve as a senator but also a physician.” She voted for the measure on Thursday.

So, of course she voted against….wait, what? She voted for it? Kinda the way it goes with Democrats. They express concern, then vote to screw the peasants.

I wonder if California will throw even more subsidies to illegals?