Opponents of health care overhaul highlight taxes in law, supporters push benefits

The House Committee on Ways and Means also released a numbers analysis showing a $1,200 increase in health care premiums for an average family in the year following the enactment of the health care law, and a 13 percent premium increase in 2016 for individuals who buy coverage on their own. The analysis puts the number of tax increases in the bill at 21, with 12 of them slated to affect Americans earning less than $200,000 a year for singles and $250,000 for married couples.

A Bloomberg analysis puts the new taxes at $813 billion, with the largest tax on individuals scheduled to take effect at the beginning of 2013. A 3.8 percent tax on "unearned income" as well as an additional 0.9 percent levy on wages exceeding the income thresholds of $250,000 per year for married couples and $200,000 for individuals would result in an estimated 4.1 million households paying one or both new taxes.

For individuals, the law places caps on the amount of pre-tax money that can be diverted to flexible-spending arrangements offered by some employers to help with health care costs, requires people to obtain prescriptions to use pre-tax dollars in FSAs and health savings accounts for over-the-counter medication and makes it harder to take itemized deductions for medical expenses.

Avik Roy, writing at Forbes, suggested that the cost of the bill may encourage colleges to drop student health plans because it will increase the cost of those college plans by as much as 1,112 percent. As an example, Roy cited Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, N.C., which paid $245 per student per year for 2011-2012, but will have to pay $2,507 per student next year in order to meet the law's requirements.

For Republicans on Capitol Hill, the mandate is a tax worth fighting, and could be the first step to full repeal. Because the mandate is now considered a tax in the eyes of the Supreme Court, the Senate can use the reconciliation process to nix the mandate, meaning the support of only 51 Senators would be needed.

Republicans could lower the tax for not having health insurance down to $0.00 as a matter of budget reconciliation and "voila — no more mandate," Timothy P. Carney wrote at The Washington Examiner.

Lachlan Markay, a reporter with The Heritage Foundation, tweeted that a Senate GOP aide confirmed that reconciliation will be used to repeal the health care law. Reconciliation was used to pass the law in 2010.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. encouraged Democrats to stand by the mandate/tax, or to stand with Republicans in repealing and replacing Obama's health care overhaul.

"The problem for the American people is this is a massive tax increase at a time they can least afford it," Graham said in a statement. "The question for Congress is — did you intend to tax the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars to create a government-controlled health care system or not?"

In his remarks after the Supreme Court ruling, President Obama did not mention the mandate, the possibility of reconciliation or the word "tax," but he did praise the court decision, saying it was a victory for people all over the country.

The ruling, Obama said, upheld the principle that people who can afford heath insurance should take the responsibility to buy it. If they do so, others won't be stuck paying for their emergency room care in the form of higher premiums. Additionally, he said, if insurance companies must cover people with preexisting conditions but don't require people who can afford it to buy their own insurance, it would drive up everyone's premiums.

The Barackobama.com website features an interactive format that seeks to inform people on how the health care law can benefit individuals with private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid or no insurance. Due to the health care law, the website states, 12.8 million Americans will receive insurance rebates averaging $151 per household, and 3.1 million young Americans will gain coverage.

Whitehouse.gov reports that 54 million Americans will have coverage for preventative services free of cost, 32.5 million people with Medicare have used a free preventative service, 3.6 million seniors have saved $2.1 billion on prescription drugs, 2.5 million more young adults have health insurance through their parent's plan and 50,000 uninsured people with pre-existing conditions have gained coverage.