(Original Post)
National Journal's CongressDaily
July 14, 2009 Tuesday
Group: Dems Must Frame Overhaul As 'Stability'
by Anna Edney and Peter Cohn
As House Democrats release their healthcare overhaul bill today, the centrist think tank Third Way took a stab at selling the middle class on the effort when many see the drastic changes coming as something that holds no benefit for them.
The answer, Third Way found, is stability. To that end, it called on lawmakers to promote provisions in their bill that evoke comfort and reliability.
Anne Kim, middle-class program director with Third Way's Economic Program, said the group has been briefing Democratic lawmakers and watching as they incorporate the word "stability" into their talking points.
Talking about key provisions, Third Way said, will help the middle class understand that Democrats want to provide coverage that cannot be taken away. They must also grasp that healthcare changes will not threaten their family's finances, and the reform efforts under way will improve what is not working.
Many in the middle class have insurance, but rising job losses have them concerned that they could lose their coverage. Three areas of Democrats' plans, according to Third Way, will offer assurances that middle-class Americans will be protected "from gaps in coverage between jobs or denial of coverage:" the health insurance exchange; guarantees that insurers will cover everyone; and a pledge to not raise premiums due to a health problem.
This strategy should seek to convince the middle class that costs will no longer threaten to spike out of reach. Those benefits, according to Third Way, include paying providers based on performance rather than quantity; subsidies that will help families and individuals afford coverage; a ban on benefit caps; and administrative standards that will lower premiums as paperwork is reduced.
Third Way also is pushing Democrats to form their message around quality, including concepts such as the medical home, comparative effectiveness research and health information technology, as well as eliminating copayments for preventive services.
Meanwhile, progressive groups are defending a House-proposed surcharge on households earning more than $350,000 in adjusted gross income, arguing it would simply take back many of the tax benefits doled out under former President George W. Bush.
Looking for more? For more on the healthcare reform debate, see our Healthcare Reform page.
A new report by Citizens for Tax Justice out today says only 1.3 percent of taxpayers would be hit with the tax beginning in 2011. The effect varies from state to state; for example, 2.8 percent of people in high-earning Connecticut would pay the surtax, compared to only 0.5 percent in West Virginia. Moreover, the estimated $550 billion tax increase should be compared against $700 billion in tax cuts for high earners as a result of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, said CTJ Director Robert McIntyre.
McIntyre also rebutted a GOP claim that over half of the impact would fall on small businesses. He said only 5 percent of taxpayers reporting small business income derive more than half of their earnings from actively running a business.
He added that only business profits would be taxed under the Ways and Means plan, because small business owners deduct hiring expenses and can write off the cost of equipment purchases.
McIntyre and Eric Schoenberg, a former investment banker who is part of a group called Wealth for the Common Good, also endorsed a plan under consideration by the Senate Finance Committee to apply the Medicare payroll tax to unearned income like capital gains and dividends. The wealthy "have benefited enormously," Schoenberg said, adding that "it has long struck me as rather peculiar" that wealthy investors do not have to contribute to Medicare.