The coffee fetcher 'some Americans more equal than others'

[The Devil's Sergeant]

In the coffee fetcher's ongoing attempt to grab control of the nearly 20% of the US economy, it was announced today that equality under the law does not mean some people cannot get preferential treatment under the law. This revelation emerged today out of transparent, closed door secret negotiations between the House of Representatives, Senate, the coffee fetcher and Big Union lobbyists.

I am talking of course about the deal struck to exclude union employees from being taxed on so called Cadillac health insurance plans through 2017, while people who buy them on their own or who receive them from their employer but are not part of a union will be left to pay the estimated $90 billion dollar tax.

Imagine this. Two families living side by side, identical in income, work at the same company, enrolled in the same insurance plan with and identical in every way that matters, except one. In house one the bread winner is a member of a union who got his insurance through a collective bargaining agreement. The other bread winner negotiated it on his own. Under this atrocity announced today, the second family is subject to a 40% tax on his insurance plan.

[xcorps]

Ya gotta love the dems.

Only these frikkin whacko's would call screwing your neighboor fair.

[Phier]

I'm waiting to see the usual defend this one.....

[Gaidin]

I'm waiting to see the usual defend this one.....

Logically it gives the unions time to adapt their negotiations. Politically and from the stance of equality I think it sucks major a-- and the unions should get the same hand the rest of the country's getting.

[s.rwitt]

Really can't say I'm suprised.

[lord o kelly]

What a disgrace.

[Tiberius Tosi]

Lol just what we need, the people who don't get insurance who are responsible enough to buy it on their own have to pay extra; the very people this bill should be targetting to get to buy insurance now have to pay more than those who happen to work for Unions. What the hell sense does that make?

[The Devil's Sergeant]

I would love to hear the coffe fetcher, who railed for much of the past year how cadillac plan were driving up health care costs, explain how exempting unions from this tax will improve the overall health care industry.

[BNS]

The favoritism is disgusting. This going to improve health care how again?

[Phier]

The only question is how much damage can we prevent before 2010 elections.

[Phier]

Reminds me of this...

[Giuliano Taverna]

I was actually involved in a union protest to prevent the city government from dumping everyone into the state health insurance plan, (which has something like a 50% copay.) I suspect the rank and file will disregard the leadership and oppose the bill. I know my dad is, and he's the local vp.

The way you negotiate a pay raise or health benefit is through collective bargaining, not legislation. If the unions go too far the company collapses and the market rewards the more responsible workers, unfortunately if the entire country does that we're essentially f-cked.

[Winter]

Is there a source on this? Just curious - an OP referring to the president as "the coffee fetcher" isn't really reliable now is it.

[Iron Juggernaut]

Is there a source on this? Just curious - an OP referring to the president as "the coffee fetcher" isn't really reliable now is it.

This.

[Tiberius Tosi]

Is there a source on this? Just curious - an OP referring to the president as "the coffee fetcher" isn't really reliable now is it.

SOURCE: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...adillac-plans/

Although this is really nothing new, the idea was thrown around last June as well.

[Winter]

There's no link there. I found one though:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34859430...h_care_reform/

...

While not all details were set, it appeared the union leaders had backed down on their outright opposition to a new tax, and the White House had agreed to several concessions to mollify their concerns.

In a significant victory for unions, the 40 percent excise tax would not apply to policies covering workers in collective bargaining agreements, state and local workers and members of voluntary employee benefit associations through Dec. 31, 2017.

Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., and others said the tax would apply to fewer plans than was the case in the Senate-passed bill and would exclude the value of dental and vision coverage. They added it would provide an exemption for residents of states where the cost of health care is particularly high, as well as for employees of high-risk professions.

A union official familiar with the details said the tentative agreement would raise the threshold on insurance policies subject to tax from $8,500 in the Senate-passed bill to $8,900 for singles and from $23,000 to $24,000 for family coverage. Even the new thresholds would be subject to adjustment if unexpected rises in health care occur by the time the plan is effective, this official said.

Additionally, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters that beginning in 2017, all health plans — union and nonunion — would be permitted to seek coverage in insurance exchanges that would be set up under the bill to allow consumers to shop for coverage issued under federal regulations.

White House officials disputed that, saying the issue was not settled.


Originally, the tax included in the Senate bill was estimated to raise $149 billion through 2019. Trumka said the revisions would reduce that amount by $60 billion — money that negotiators would have to find elsewhere or else reduce the coverage in the legislation.

While the tax would be applied to high-cost plans, the Congressional Budget Office has said its principal impact would be to prompt consumers to purchase lower-value coverage. That, in turn, would raise the income tax they pay by reducing the deduction they can take for health care expenses.

By the way, this whole "coffee fetcher" thing is overdoing it a bit, don't you think? He's still the president, and you end up sounding like Rush Limbaugh.

[The Devil's Sergeant]

There's no link there. I found one though

As you can see for yourself, a link is not necessary when one has command of the facts.

By the way, this whole "coffee fetcher" thing is overdoing it a bit, don't you think? He's still the president, and you end up sounding like Rush Limbaugh.

I only aspire to sound like Bill Clinton.

[Winter]

As you can see for yourself, a link is not necessary when I have command of the facts.

I only aspire to sound like Bill Clinton.

A link is always necessary if one wishes to be believed or respected. Bill Clinton allegedly said "a few years ago this guy would be getting us coffee". You can choose to take that as racist if you want, which is the Fox News talking point from what I'm told, but of all the pretend charges you can throw at Bill Clinton, racist isn't one of them. The other implication is that the guy was new on the scene, which he was. I don't get the controversy.

[Tiberius Tosi]

A link is always necessary if one wishes to be believed or respected. Bill Clinton allegedly said "a few years ago this guy would be getting us coffee". You can choose to take that as racist if you want, but of all the pretend charges you can call Bill Clinton, racist isn't one of them. The other implication is that the guy was new on the scene, which he was. I don't get the controversy.

Yeah I don't see how people took that comment as racist. It just meant that he was a nobody and Clinton was trying to put him in his place a bit.

Now if he had said "a few years ago this guy would be deep frying us some Popeyes Chicken"...ok yeah that would be racist lol.

[Ishoss]

What's the problem with being organised in a union anyways? It should be encouraged to enroll into the unions. Workers should be united. That's not communism, it's giving the worker influence at his own work-place.

This only work so long as the unions aren't dirty, greedy corrupt bastards however. I heard you have bad experiences with those kind of guys in America.