The Healthcare Bill- the New Taxes They Are Not Telling You About
       Before any of the details of the new healthcare bill have even been discussed, lawmakers and experts are beginning to recognize that taxes are going to have to be raised, including income taxes.
       Even then, the cost of the new health plan is projected to be $1.2 billion. A sum that requires, in the words of the bill’s proponents “new revenues”.
       Currently, the bill lacks any definition of what an “affordable” plan is, how much it will cost individuals, who will provide it, and what it will cover. Financial predictions of the sustainability of the plan have been based on the wishful thinking that somehow, costs for healthcare are going to go down once everyone is insured. Since there have been double-digit increases in the cost of healthcare every year, experts say there is no rational reason to believe that.
       Speaker Sal DiMasi said lawmakers were intent through the negotiating process to try to achieve a compromise plan without raising taxes. However, DiMasi added: “We’re committed to doing this and we are putting new revenues into it”, a stark admission that there will be new taxes involved.
       The Urban Institute, which was one of the organizations behind the push for the bill, was even more forward. “I know it’s hard to raise taxes everywhere, but I think it can be done,” John Holahan, executive director for Health Policy Research at the institute said. “It’s a lot easier for me to say than the Speaker.”
       Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, (called by Barbara Anderson of Citizens for Limited Taxation a Trojan Horse for "fat cats") says the structure of the plan is sustainable over the long term, although its price tag is likely to rise as the cost of health care rises with inflation. That increase, he said, would be covered by a rise in tax revenues.
       Experts have noted that ultimately everyone in the state will be paying for the honor of being the first state with “universal” healthcare, whether we want to or not.