Tax Plastic Surgery to Pay For Affordable Health Insurance?
Kategori Cosmetics Reviews » Tax Plastic Surgery to Pay For Affordable Health Insurance?
The Senate has proposed multiple methods of paying for healthcare reform. Majority Leader Harry Reid has promised that his bill will really reduce the national budget shortage over the long run. How is that possible? He has proposed several tax increases as part of the key to provide affordable health insurance. One of these proposals would levy a 5% tax on elective plastic surgery. Since over 12 million cosmetic surgery procedures were performed in 2008, such a tax would bring in significant revenue. This so-called “Bo-Tax” may appear relatively benign, but has resulted in a surprisingly large amount of controversy.
According to the Senate’s bill, the tax will not apply to plastic surgery performed to fix deformities ensuing from an injury or disease; nor will it be levied on surgery on congenital abnormalities. Consequently, surgeries like post-mascectomy breast augmentation and cleft palate repair wouldn’t be affected. Though, some advocacy groups dread that the definition of necessary plastic surgery is too vague. Plastic surgeons also believe that they are being unfairly singled out with the tax, which they will have to collect from customers themselves. Currently, elective plastic surgery is not considered a tax-deductible medical expense–but this sales-tax like expense means superfluous cost and responsibility for these specialists.
Pride taxes on liposuction, rhinoplasty, or a breast lift are more palatable to the general public than a general tax hike for those above a particular income level, which is most likely why Reid chose to include this excise tax absent in the House of Representatives’ bill that does the latter. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons claims that such an attitude is most likely a result of misconceptions regarding the average plastic surgery patient. They claim that, far from being wealthy society ladies, over half of those seeking elective plastic surgery earn below ,000 annually. In addition, since virtually all health insurance plans don’t cover such procedures, those individuals are paying for it out-of-pocket.
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There have also been accusations of sexism hurled at this tax. Most plastic surgery consumers are women, many of whom are middle-class. Negative stereotypes in this area middle-aged women present in the labor force–more so than men of the same demographic–have led
