Obama Considers Tax to Assist Health Care Reform

June 25, 2009

Since his campaign, President Barack Obama has made it clear that one of his top priorities is to reform the country’s healthcare system, which leaves millions of citizens in debt with medical bills, because they are unable to afford insurance.

Recently, Obama proposed a tax on employer-provided benefits. Many senior senators have said that such a tax may be necessary to address Obama’s $1 trillion overhaul of the system.

The tax would affect all of those who receive an expensive healthcare package from their employer- including all government workers. However, he did receive some backlash from organized labor parties and labor unions, most agree that such a step would be essential to creating any add-ons to Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Though such a bill has not yet been passed, it is still being considered by the government. In addition, any legislation that is passed is expected to require insurance companies to offer coverage to any applicant, without exclusions or higher premiums for pre-existing medical conditions.