Already Insured? Get Ready to Pay More
For most Americans insured through work, health care coverage is expected to stay the same -- or improve. No lifetime caps. No denial of benefits if people get sick. And continued coverage if you lose or change jobs.
But premiums will continue to rise. How much? No one's certain. To pay for this sweeping reform, here's what will change: Those tax-free flexible spending accounts will be cut in half. They reimburse some medical bills not covered by insurance. The new cap: $2,500.
User's Guide to Health Care Reform
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CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann reports if you make more, you'll pay more. Starting in 2013, individuals earning more than $200,000 a year - and families earning more than $250,000 - will pay almost one percent more on their Medicare payroll tax. For a family earning $500,000 it means an extra $2,250 a year.
Those same high-earners will face an extra 3.8 percent Medicare tax on their net investment income.
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Rick Swartz buys his family health plan through work. He's the fleet manager at DH Griffin, America's second-leading demolition company. His health premiums have almost doubled in five years, to more than $9,500 a year.
With this health reform Swartz and his wife Teresa expect their premiums to keep jumping.
"Somebody will have to pay for it - for the uninsured to be insured," Teresa said. "I just don't want it to be the middle class."
David Griffin knows he'll pay more. His family built DH Griffin. But his higher income faces higher taxes.
"We've been successful and we don't feel like we should be penalized the more successful we are," Griffin said. "It's not the American way."
This company's in the business of change -- of tearing down and starting over. But no one here is sure this health care reform is change for the better.
