CBO: Middle-income consumers are costly under House reform bill

After all of this time and effort, the following can't be very reassuring to House Democrats championing their own brand of healthcare reform. A new analysis by the Congressional Budget Office this week has concluded that middle-income consumers will pay 15 to 18 percent of their income on premiums and co-payments under the proposed system.

House Dems would offer $600 billion in subsidies to aid low- and middle-income people in purchasing health coverage. That being said, a family of four with an income of $78,000 in 2016 would on average pay $8,800 in premiums, and face co-payments of $5,000 per year, the CBO notes.

Not only are there debates over just how much coverage middle-income Americans would receive, there are big questions as to how to fund the $600 billion tab. The current bill assumes that private insurers would pay for part of it, while individuals making more than $500,000 per year and couples with incomes over $1 million a year would pay a 5.4 percent excise tax. Under this scheme, the excise tax would cover $460.5 billion of the total need.

To learn more about this analysis:
- read this Kaiser Health News piece

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