Health care law to correct "Mal distribution of income"

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Since this item was published, DNC Chairman Howard Dean has also jumped onto the income redistribution platform.

 Senior Democrat Max Baucus, D-Mont, chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee  yesterday said that one of the benefits the new health care law will bring is a correction to what he termed a mal distribution in American income.

According to a report published by Foxnews.com, the moderate Democrat Senator from Montana said the following:

"Too often, much of late, the last couple three years, the mal-distribution of income in American is gone up way too much, the wealthy are getting way, way too wealthy and the middle income class is left behind," he said. "Wages have not kept up with increased income of the highest income in America. This legislation will have the effect of addressing that mal-distribution of income in America."

The mechanism he refers to is the nearly 600 billion in new taxes on small business owners and large income earners. Small business owners also have to either provide insurance or pay an eight percent payroll tax beginning in 2014.

The remarks by Baucus reflect the first time in the debate that the Democratic party has said that the purpose of the bill would have actions that were not campaigned on. The larger argument that has been made was that the purpose was to re-invent the health care system and provide insurance for some 30+ million more Americans.

The law, comprising some 2700 pages of text, has a number of flaws. Just prior to signing the bill into law, President Barack Obama remarked that one of the early provisions would be the elimination of discrimination based on pre-existing conditions for children. According to virtually every major news source, no language can be found in either the main bill (HR 3590), or the reconciliation bill (HR 4872) that details when or how this provision will be implemented. Democrats have since indicated that the issue and others will have to be addressed in separate legislation.

Republicans have countered that the transfer of wealth from taxes on small businesses and income taxes will have an adverse effect on the employment situation, possibly putting a shaky and the so-called "jobless recovery" closer to the edge of a double-dip recession. Conversations with local businesses so far have revealed that the likelihood of holding existing employees or adding new staff to pre-recession levels will be difficult to impossible. Other companies locally have reduced or eliminated part-time staff and restructured other positions before the bill was signed into law. No reason was provided as the number of positions affected did not meet reporting thresholds.