Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Dec 22 on the Senate version of the bill facing a vote this week: “The biggest surprise for people will be to find out that 40% of them will have their benefits cut because of the Senate tax on health care plans.  The CBO says that the money will come, not from the health care plans, but from cuts on the plans so that providers can avoid the tax.  How will you explain this to….. the 40% of people who will have their plans cut to provide benefits to other people?” 

McCaskill (Missouri Senator) replies that doing these things “…leaves more money on the table so the unions can negotiate higher wages.” 

O’Donnell: “…Doesn’t that violate Obama’s pledge that people will be able to keep their health care if they want, but it turns out if you like your health care plan then the Senate is going to cut the benefits?” 

Jean Chatzky:  “It’s a game they are playing in the sense that when they are taxing the benefits, so of course there are going to be reductions in benefits to the end user.  Yes, their premiums may go down but they will have to pay more on the other end to get those same benefits.”

Click here to see the video and move the arrow to TIME 8:20 (watch the rest if you can stand McCaskill’s dirty rhetoric, party-line name calling, lack of coherent explanations and intolerance of a different opinion).

Amazing.  You work hard, negotiate a salary and benefits.  Wouldn’t it make sense to reward people by having a tax break to families who provide their OWN coverage?  But instead, Congress is setting it up so you are penalized by having a tax levied on the plan you earned and pay for yourself.  But on the other hand, if you don’t have healthcare, you may get rewarded with subsidized healthcare.  Most of us don’t have “cadillac” plans but the changes will have a domino effect on the availability and cost of health care to everyone.

Note that there is currently a provision in the bill that exempts SOME unions from the tax.  There is also a provision that the bill does provide health care to illegal aliens.