House Democrats looking at windfall profits tax on insurance industry

House Democrats looking at windfall profits tax on insurance industry
By Jared Allen - 10/08/09 10:59 AM ET


House Democrats are floating the idea of a windfall-profits tax on the private health insurance industry as a way to finance their healthcare overhaul, and to drum up support among members of a divided caucus.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the windfall profits tax idea "very preliminary," saying she's asked House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) to look at how much the tax could raise.

I have asked Chairman Rangel to see what is in it for us," Pelosi said. "There's more that the insurance companies could contribute to this health care reform. They're going to get 50 million new consumers, many of them subsidized by the taxpayer. They can put more on the table."

The idea was brought up in a leadership meeting on Wednesday night and brought before the entire caucus on Thursday morning, according to Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).

Connolly said no specific structure or tax rates were discussed, nor was it estimated how much revenue could be brought in through a tax on the profits of the largest health insurance companies, but Connolly said the idea had wide support.

“I sense that would be a very popular thing to do in our caucus,” Connolly said.

Connolly did not say who was responsible for pushing the tax, but the profits of the largest private health insurers have been under close scrutiny by two high-ranking Democrats who don’t see eye to eye on the other major portions of the House health reform bill: Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who chairs the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee on Waxman’s panel.

more...

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/62211-house-dems-considering-windfall-profits-tax-on-insurance-industry

That way their priorities are re-adjusted

simple.
elegant
effective

Win/Win for everyone.

...to fund the Public Option?

(more from the same story)



I looked this guy up on Wiki:



He calls himself a Democrat--but with his apparent religious-fundamentalist mindset, it's hard for me to trust his true intentions... for our intentions here, though, I'll just hope he's as avaricious as he is seeming-stupid; whatever it takes to get the job DONE.

God, sometimes I get so sick of politicians; Reeps OR Dems, they've sold our souls out from under us--and not even for a reasonable rate; they get half a million in contributions, then turn around and reward their sponsors with BILLIONS of dollars... it's like they're trading our futures for glass beads or magic beans or something, cuz they just don't "get" the math at those levels...

This is just too good to sink like a stone!