How Emergency Rooms Can Save Romney's Tax Plan

Mitt Romney has been repeatedly hammered for the vagueness and mathematical impossibility of his plan to cut everyone's taxes by 20% but regain lost revenues by closing loopholes and capping deductions and credits for the wealthy.

Like many other critics of Romney's tax plan, President Obama charges that it fails to specify whether or not it would kill such sacred cows as the deduction for home mortgage interest. It also fails to add up. If cutting taxes by 20% cuts five trillion dollars in revenue over a period of ten years, closing loopholes and capping deductions simply cannot make up that loss. The Tax Policy Center estimates that even if deductions and credits were capped at $17,000, which would affect not just the wealthy but also many people earning less than $100,000 a year, we could raise no more than 1.7 trillion -- only a third of the five trillion needed.

What critics fail to realize, however, is that a simple solution to this problem has been staring us in the face all along. If and when the American body politic starts bleeding to death from Romney's tax cuts, all we have to do is to take it to the nearest emergency room, which is legally bound to treat all comers without regard for their ability to pay.

That's why I'm for Mitt.

 

Comments

[Hoosierbrad]

03:07 PM on 10/21/2012

Romney thinks emergency rooms and hospitals can continue to subsidize the poor and uninsured forever; they cannot. The future seems bleak, if huge numbers of Americans do not get insurance or publicly funded health care.

[Gestas]

02:10 PM on 10/21/2012

Romney has no idea what He's talking about..The Emergency Room is the biggest money maker in the Hospital....The best Medical care in the world..Maybe, but not in your local E.R.

[jffrybrk]

01:01 PM on 10/21/2012

In case people missed what Mr. Romney said during the second debate, there will effectively be NO TAX CUT for the middle class. He said cuts and deductions will make his plan tax nuetral. Here are the problems with the Romney paln:

1) If he lowers your tax rate by 20%, then caps your duductions at $25,000 there will be little if any tax savings. He said you will have to decide what you want to deduct. A family with a $2,500 a month mortgage payment will lose because the can deduct part of it, but nothing else!

2) The elimination of taxes on capital gains only helps those who have money to invest and actually make a profit at it. (i.e. Mitt Romney and friends) Most poor and middleclass do not have enough expendable income left over at the end of the month to invest. The real winners here will be the wealthy!

With the wealthy no longer paying taxes, SOMEONE has to, in order to pay for the bloated military expenses he has planned. This can only be done by cutting funding for schools, healthcare, public safety, roads and other much needed services.

[burt1]

09:47 PM on 10/20/2012

This is being sarcastic right? I worked in hosptals/healthcare for 30 years.One of the main reasons we need insurance for everyone is due to ER visits.Costs of unpaid are picked up by tax write offs from hospitals.Its more complicated but the cost of caring for people in ER is far more expensive than insuring everyone.Furthermore the writer is not correct about hospitals have to treat you. There are for profit,like the Bain owned hospitals. They can deny care if it is not life threatening.For example someone with a cold who cant see a Dr. due to lack of insurance go to a non-profit hospitals.They recieve government funds,hill/burtonand others accept set rates from insurance companies as well as medicare and medicaid. They cannot deny treatment.too much detail to explain But a for profit need only stabilize emergencies and can then discharge you.The healthcare act actually reduce ER visits and stops much uncollectable debt.Which ultimately gets passed on to the taxpayers through deductions and rising costs for those who self pay.Bottom line,this guy must be joking because hes completely wrong.Obamas health act does help people and save taxpayers,privatepayers money while keeping hospital costs down.With the exception of for profit facilities such as Bains hospitals around the country.Because they dont make the same deal with the government they can escalate costs to everyone as they see fit.And turn people away.

[Hoosierbrad]

03:05 PM on 10/21/2012

Unpaid emergency room bills ARE not written off of taxes for non-profit hospitals; which are most of our hospitals. They must either eat the loss, or pass it on to the paying customers, which is what is happening. That is why hospitals, and insurance companies, benefit from Obamacare. More hospitals, and doctors, get paid, thus there should be fewer losses passed on to other patients.

[shelbyanne]

09:07 PM on 10/20/2012

They will treat you, bill you, give you charity care if you qualify, or let you make payments if you don't. Other wise your bill goes to collections, and you lose everything you own if you don't pay it. I prefer to purchase insurance to help pay my heath care expenses and in case of an emergency. Luckily I live in a state that has dirt cheap private insurance administered by the state. I save a bundle of cash.

[Genders]

08:47 PM on 10/20/2012

humor?

[Jay Daterman]

08:45 PM on 10/20/2012

Mitt's tax plan is utterly bogus; like the minds of the gullible people who fall for his hooey.

[RealistBC]

06:57 PM on 10/20/2012

There was something wrong with my first comment?