Beware of the Cadillac Tax - it Could Kill You

A lot has been said about the proposed Cadillac tax by President Obama on health insurance plans from those who are fairly healthy and do not suffer from a debilitating or long-term illness. However, as a Diabetic, I have a different perspective than those individuals, because healthcare plans really do not show their quality until you suffer from an on going illness.

We PAY EXTRA money for "Cadillac" healthcare insurance. So, if I suffer from a diabetic complication, I do not have to deal with the extra red tape approval barriers that a cheaper policy, such as an HMO, will make me follow. For example, if I need specialist, I only have to pay an additional $10 dollars under the current plan we have. If I were with an HMO, I would have to get approval from my primary care physician. If it was approved a necessary specialist visit, I would then be able to see the specialist.

This doesn't sound like a big thing to someone who is healthy; but to a diabetic, who may have to see three or four specialists a year, it can become stressful and the waiting for approval dangerous. That's why I feel this new excise tax will affect my healthcare, because I will not be able to afford better health insurance anymore.

We're not even allowed to deduct our extra healthcare expenses unless they're above 7% of our gross income. Now, we will pay an excise tax on the fact that I would like to live to see my daughter get married. It's not as if we get our insurance free, a Cadillac healthcare plan is a higher cost insurance plan, which WE PAY FOR!

Calling it a Cadillac tax is a lie, because the middle class will suffer as they suffer under any tax increase. This class warfare attitude in our country is the "Big Lie" and it's to keep you from seeing how much money the government takes from your pocket.

As healthcare costs increase, politicians, who have no worries about paying for their healthcare, have now decided that those of us, who would sacrifice salary for better health security, should pay a penalty. Why? I don't believe in the Star Trek philosophy that "the good of the many out weighs the needs of the one. " That attitude is un-realistic and it didn't workout too well for those aged, disabled, or ill in the Socialist Soviet Union or Fascist Nazi Germany.

As our government goes about co-opting the healthcare system, those of us with long-term or debilitating illnesses should beware, because as in any oppressive government we will be the first to go. Just look at what is happening to healthcare programs designed for the disabled and mentally ill in every state. Their benefits were first thing cut in every budget; I have yet to hear about a politician cutting their salary. Now, the government is targeting the responsibly insured through the guise that it's only "the rich" who have Cadillac healthcare insurance. So, I ask you, "Who's the next "Rich" target?"

References:

Euthanasia Program: U.S Holocost Musuem

The Myth of "Cadillac Care" ; Allan Sloan, Money, January 5, 2010