Doggett Moves to Assure Medicare’s Promise Through Greater Tax Fairness
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, is pushing to preserve health care coverage for seniors and individuals with disabilities by establishing greater tax fairness, preventing disruption of benefits and providing sufficient time to implement cost-saving measures.
Doggett introduced the Assuring Medicare’s Promise Act on July 11.
Current loopholes in existing laws allow wealthy individuals to avoid paying their fair share into Medicare. The act would close those loopholes, which allowed wealthy individuals to avoid paying the Net Investment Income Tax, and direct those funds into the Medicare Hospital Insurance Fund.
The bill ensures that high-income owners of pass-through businesses have to pay either the 3.8% Medicare employment tax or the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax, and redirect revenue generated from the latter to the Medicare Hospital Insurance Fund.
The move is estimated to generate $650 billion. It would also assure an additional seven years of Medicare solvency and protect Medicare’s promise of comprehensive health care into 2040.
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