Ryan Urges GOP To Stop Over-Promising, Citing Repeal Attempts; Aide Says Obama Will Propose Cadillac Tax Change
"We can't promise that we can repeal Obamacare when a guy with the last name Obama is president," the speaker said. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama will propose changes to the unpopular "Cadillac tax" on high-cost health insurance plans, and the health care law will make tax season more complicated for small businesses.
The Associated Press:
Ryan Calls For Unity, Less Anger From His Fractious GOP
House Speaker Paul Ryan called on Republicans Wednesday to unify and stop fighting each other as he tried steering his fractious party into an election year devoid of the collisions between conservatives and pragmatists that transformed parts of 2015 into a GOP nightmare. "We have to be straight with each other and more importantly, we have to be straight with the American people," Ryan, R-Wis., said at a Heritage Action for America policy meeting. "We can't promise that we can repeal Obamacare when a guy with the last name Obama is president. All that does is set us up for failure and disappointment and recriminations." (2/3)
Reuters:
Obama Budget To Adjust Health Insurance 'Cadillac Tax': Adviser
President Barack Obama will propose tailoring the controversial "Cadillac tax" on expensive private health insurance plans to reflect regional differences when he releases his 2017 budget plan next week, a senior White House adviser said in an article released on Wednesday. Obama's proposal would reduce the bite of the unpopular tax by raising the threshold where it takes effect in areas where healthcare is particularly expensive, according to the article in the New England Journal of Medicine co-written by Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. (Walsh, 2/3)
The Associated Press:
Health Care Law Makes Tax Season Tougher For Small Companies
As more requirements of the health care law take effect, income tax filing season becomes more complex for small businesses. Companies required to offer health insurance have new forms to complete providing details of their coverage. Owners whose payrolls have hovered around the threshold where insurance is mandatory need to be sure their coverage — if they offered it last year — was sufficient to avoid penalties. (2/3)
In other news, slower health care inflation helps U.S. debt outlook, but Medicare issues loom in the background, and a study looks at the effect of defunding Planned Parenthood —
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Debt Burden: It’s Gotten a Bit Less Bad
Budget watchdogs for years have warned of a looming debt crisis in the U.S. The federal debt, already its highest as a share of the economy since 1950, is poised to rocket higher as retiring baby boomers draw on Medicare and Social Security. Here’s the surprise: Compared to seven years ago, the long-term budget outlook has gotten better, not worse, thanks to slower health-care inflation and, more important, much lower interest rates. The hands on the doomsday debt clock have been moved back. (Ip, 2/3)
The Los Angeles Times:
After Texas Stopped Funding Planned Parenthood, Low-Income Women Had More Babies
The state of Texas’ sustained campaign against Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics affiliated with abortion providers appears to have led to an increase in births among low-income women who lost access to affordable and effective birth control, a new study says. (Netburn, 2/3)