Comments on: “Cadillac” Tax Will Hit Government Workers

By: Art

Art — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 14:09:05 +0000

I never could get a handle on what value “Cadillac plans” provide.

Are people with them lucky or being ripped off? Do they spend most of their time and energy going to, waiting at or being examined or tested by various specialty physicians ? Are they somehow healthier or have a greater “wellness” factor or are they just sicklier that we are?

Seems to me that the companies or unions who provide these just do it for the tax write-off component which just raises the costs to everybody else. And “all the extra coverage is not very often even used and holders never even want to have to use them”. After all who really wants to have a catastrophic event, covered or not?

By: Linda Gorman

Linda Gorman — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:59:34 +0000

Before we go too far with the schadenfreude, keep in mind that the amount at which the “Cadillac Tax” applies is not properly indexed. Won’t be too long before everyone is driving a Cadillac (you’ll be mandated to buy one to ensure the general welfare)and paying the VAT on it.

By: Ken

Ken — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:03:14 +0000

I don’t think you can tax the tax collectors and the people who surround them too much.

By: John R. Graham

John R. Graham — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:57:12 +0000

This story explains why the “Cadillac tax” is highly unlikely to ever occur: It hits the public-sector unions. That’s why it’s been pushed out until 2018. They just needed it because the CBO wouldn’t score the Medicare savings surtax high enough.

It’s now an open secret that they actually plan to fund this thing with a Euro-style VAT. Politically, they will have a heck of a time figuring out how and when to roll it out, because it attacks the middle class.

By: Rusty Wells

Rusty Wells — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:38:13 +0000

I couldn’t think of more deserving people to be taxed. These people are already at the public trough. It’s time for their ox to be gored.

By: Linda Gorman

Linda Gorman — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:17:39 +0000

Another way to think about this is to note that in states that didn’t wreck their individual insurance markets like Massachusetts did, parents in their 50s with two teenage kids will pay less that $12,000 for direct purchase family coverage with Rx benefits, a $5,000 deductible, a nationwide network, a substantial lifetime maximum, and no copays after the deductible.

Could it be possible that government is the problem rather than the solution?

By: Virginia

Virginia — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:04:25 +0000

Do their insurance plans actually come with Cadillac’s? $40k seems like a lot to spend on insurance, even if it is for a family.

By: Neil H.

Neil H. — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:47:12 +0000

One way to think about this is to realize that for a middle income employee — say a two earner couple earning $100,000 — the ability to buy this insurance with untaxed dollars is a subsidy worth about half the cost of the insurance.

So for a $40,000 plan, taxpayers are paying for about $20,000 of the cost.