Under the guise of fixing America's heath care "crisis" the government added, at the last minute, a tax on Cosmetic Surgery, in an effort to fund all the costly, poorly planned changes they proposed for the health system. See Below:
Surprise Addition to Healthcare Bill is Arbitrary, Difficult to Administer
For Immediate Release: November 19, 2009
Arlington Heights, IL and New York, NY - Late yesterday, democratic leaders in the Senate unveiled their proposal for overhauling the health care system, which included a new 5% tax on elective cosmetic procedures. Senate Democrats argue that the tax, which was a surprise addition to the sweeping 2,074-page bill, will generate $5.8 billion over the next 10 years to be put towards the bill's estimated $849 billion price tag. However, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) oppose this tax as discriminatory, arbitrary and ineffective.
Well, it turns out that this idea was unconstitutional, or at least unfair since Cosmetic Surgery patients, as it turns out, are neither rich, nor evenly distributed in terms of gender, or nationality. A tax would have discriminated against middle income females.
A letter to our local paper's editor follows:
Letter of the Day: An ugly prospect
Editor, Daily News:
As you are aware, as part of the national health-care reform solution there is a proposed tax on aesthetic surgery procedures.
I truly hope that I am not alone in vehemently objecting to such a preposterous concept. I can only imagine that the idea to tax aesthetic procedures was born in some brainstorming session and was immediately, though incorrectly, thought of as a form of luxury tax.
In this desperate economic climate nobody dared to analyze the idea any further.
If one took the time to do so they would realize that this tax would penalize women (90 percent of aesthetic patients) and the middle class (90 percent have an income under $90,000 a year).
This tax is not based on the logic of penalizing an activity which costs the country money, such as smoking. Instead it is a penalty on a random spending habit — an intrusion on a private use of discretionary funds.
This tax furthermore imposes a new role upon the medical caregiver — that of tax collector. This is a role which will only hurt the patient-doctor relationship.
The goal to improve the U.S. health-care delivery system is a respectable aspiration. However, let’s not let this goal turn into a one-man or a one-administration crusade.
To use fear tactics, loosely controlled statistics and popular sound bites is marketing propaganda, which should not be allowed in the election process, let alone in critical policymaking.
Editor, Daily News:
As you are aware, as part of the national health-care reform solution there is a proposed tax on aesthetic surgery procedures.
I truly hope that I am not alone in vehemently objecting to such a preposterous concept. I can only imagine that the idea to tax aesthetic procedures was born in some brainstorming session and was immediately, though incorrectly, thought of as a form of luxury tax.
In this desperate economic climate nobody dared to analyze the idea any further.
If one took the time to do so they would realize that this tax would penalize women (90 percent of aesthetic patients) and the middle class (90 percent have an income under $90,000 a year).
This tax is not based on the logic of penalizing an activity which costs the country money, such as smoking. Instead it is a penalty on a random spending habit — an intrusion on a private use of discretionary funds.
This tax furthermore imposes a new role upon the medical caregiver — that of tax collector. This is a role which will only hurt the patient-doctor relationship.
The goal to improve the U.S. health-care delivery system is a respectable aspiration. However, let’s not let this goal turn into a one-man or a one-administration crusade.
To use fear tactics, loosely controlled statistics and popular sound bites is marketing propaganda, which should not be allowed in the election process, let alone in critical policymaking.
— Andrea Basile, M.D., Naples, board-certified plastic surgeon
Fortunately reason won out this time and the tax was removed from the health care reform proposal-at least for now....
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