Senate Democrats are “secretly considering” up to $1 billion in “new taxes on medical services” as an alternative to health care spending cuts in Governor Paterson’s deficit reduction plan, according to this report in today’s New York Post.
Such a tax would add to what is already a heavy and fast-growing burden. Using projected revenues for 2009-10, New York’s current array of special taxes and fees under the Health Care Reform Act (HCRA) includes:
- $2.242 billion in surcharges on health care providers;
- $1.165 billion from the covered lives assessment on health insurance policies;
- $306 million in hospital assessments; and
- $131 million from a newly enacted tax on non-profit HMOs.
All of which comes to $3.8 billion — up $1.4 billion, or 56 percent, in just the past four years. Collections from the covered lives assessment alone have nearly doubled since 2005-06.
This year, in fact, health-care taxes and fees will total at least $1 billion more than total receipts from New York’s principal general business tax, the state corporation franchise tax.
You may also like
Healthcare Highlights in the New State Budget
Governor Hochul's focus on affordability seems to have skipped over the healthcare portions of the new state budget.
The deal finalized May 27 Read More
Four Problems with a Statewide Pied-à-Terre Tax
Soon after Governor Hochul floated the idea of a "pied-à-terre" tax in New York City, Albany Sen. Patricia Fahy proposed to expand the concept to the rest of the state.
As with H Read More
Albany Should Listen to Jamie Dimon
In his annual message to shareholders, JP Morgan Chase's chief executive, Jamie Dimon, offered a timely and pointed warning for New York policymakers.
It's worth , with emphasis add Read More
Mamdani Gets an Important Tax Fact Wrong
At a hearing in Albany last week, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani lobbied state lawmakers to help him balance the city's finances with a two-percentage-point hike in the city's income tax on people making over $1 million Read More
Parsing the Impact of Mamdani’s Tax Hike Plans
The front-running candidate for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has said he can finance his costly campaign promises – including free buses and universal child care – by taxing only a sliver of the city's residents Read More
Why New York’s Health Premiums Keep Going Up
New Yorkers continue to face some of the costliest health premiums in the U.S., and the insurance industry's recently finalized rate applications shed light on why that is.
In summa Read More
Two Dozen School Districts Are Returning to the Polls for Budget Revotes
Voters in 24 New York school districts return to the polls on Tuesday for school budget revotes. Last month, voters in 96 percent of school districts outside New York City conducting votes approved their school budgets for the upcoming year.
The 683 sc Read More
Even With Federal Cuts, New York’s Health Funding Would Remain High
New York's health-care industry stands to lose billions of dollars in federal funding under the major budget bill being debated in Washington – a rare and jarring turn of events for a sector accustomed to steadily increas Read More