Obama’s Blue State Betrayal

A recent report from the non-partisan Tax Foundation shows who will bear the funding burden for the federal government’s health care take over, and proves it’s never too early to say “I told you so.”

Nine of the top ten states that will pay the highest income taxes under a “surtax” plan currently being considered in the Democrat-dominated House of Representatives went for Barack Obama last fall. By an average of 25 percent.

Heightening the irony, affected taxpayers in Blue states like Hawaii, Minnesota, and Rhode Island are among the least likely to benefit from any so-called “public option” or federal employer mandate because higher proportions of those residents already receive some form of health coverage.

Perhaps voters were confused by assurances from Candidate Obama that he had no intention of raising costs or disrupting their current care. After all, less than a month before the 2008 election, he promised, “If you’ve got a health care plan that you like, you can keep it. All I’m going to do is help you to lower the premiums on it.”

In other words, something for nothing. Except that “nothing” apparently now means a 5.4 percent income surtax and/or penalization of employer-provided health insurance to fund the president’s massive new entitlement scheme.

And, contrary to Obama’s own campaign rhetoric, a tax on benefits would in fact leave more than 118 million people at risk of losing plans they like very much. According a CBS News poll last month, 77 percent of Americans are satisfied with their current health coverage. But they will see their taxes hiked anyway to subsidize government care for a far smaller group that may or may not currently be underserved.

As they say, Red or Blue, elections have consequences. Even when your team wins.