The SoCal Cosmetic Network

Cosmetic Surgery to be Taxed with New Senate Health care Bill

November, 20, 2009, San Diego, CA. The United States Senate’s version of the new health care reform bill, has been introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), which will include a new 5 percent tax on elective cosmetic surgery procedures.

Senator Reid unveiled the new bill, which is expected to cost United States taxpayers approximately $848 billion, while extending coverage to more than 94 percent of Americans and insure 31 million more of the uninsured.

“We can’t afford to overlook what this is really about,” said Reid. “More accurately, we can’t afford to overlook who this is all about.”

The new tax on cosmetic surgery, is also commonly referred to as the “Botax”, and is estimated to raise approximately $6 billion in tax revenues over the next decade for the United States. The new bill also includes an increase in the payroll tax for Medicare, which will raise from 1.45 percent to 1.95 percent for couples earning more than $250,000 a year and for individuals that are earning over $200,000. The bill also features a tax on high-end insurance plans, also known as “Cadillac” or “Gold-Plated” plans, that are worth $8,500 for the individual taxpayer and $23,000 for families in the U.S.

Senator Reid’s health care bill includes a major difference form the version that narrowly passed in the House of Representatives earlier in November. The house version of the bill includes a 5.4 percent surtax on the high-income taxpayer bracket. The two bills also have a difference in approach to restricting public funding for the ever controversial stance on abortion, as Reid’s version has set up a “firewall” to segregate private premiums from publicly made subsidies.

Many congressional Republicans expressed a bit of opposition the new bill. “After six weeks of drafting a bill behind closed doors, the Majority has produced a bill that increases premiums, raises taxes, and slashes Medicare by half a trillion dollars to create a new government program,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY. “This is not what the American people want. I don’t believe they think this is reform. This is not the direction to take.”

Many U.S. cosmetic plastic surgeons have also expressed their dissatisfaction with the proposed tax on cosmetic surgery as well, saying their practices have already been battered enough by the recession, and are just beginning to recover. “This will be devastating to doctors who do cosmetic surgery,” said Dr. Angela Cuzalina, a Tulsa cosmetic surgeon and the president-elect of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery. “You’d be surprised how price sensitive people are to this…It’s a tax against women and the baby boomer generation having these procedures.”

Source: TheSoCalCosmeticNetwork.com Staff

One Response to “Cosmetic Surgery to be Taxed with New Senate Health care Bill”

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   May 4, 2010 at 2:00 pm

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