Family Security Matters » Publications » How the Senate Health Bill Punishes Businesses That Hire Low-Income Workers

Family Security Matters » Publications » How the Senate Health Bill Punishes Businesses That Hire Low-Income Workers: "Suppose you wanted to prevent single parents and people from lower-income families from getting a job. How about imposing a $3,000 tax penalty on any employer who hired such a person instead of an equally qualified, equally paid person from a higher-income family? Would that do the trick?

It would do the trick quite nicely – but since no decent person actually wants to make it hard to escape poverty, it's a really bad idea. But that is exactly what the Senate health care bill does.

The Senate health bill (H.R. 3590) introduced by Sen. Reid (D-NV) contains provisions (Section 1513) that would impose a tax penalty on any company with more than 50 employees that hires someone who qualifies for, and opts to accept, a health insurance premium subsidy – a penalty of $3,000 per employee per year. And the qualifications for that taxpayer subsidy depend on the worker's family size and family income, not just the pay from that employer. A worker with more dependents would be more likely to qualify, and one with a working spouse or other family members would be less likely to qualify – and the IRS
would be required to provide this family information to the employer."