Democrats from President Obama on down keep saying that if you like your existing health care plan, doctors, etc., you can keep them.  Not so fast says Bob Herbert at the NY Times:

The bill that passed the Senate with such fanfare on Christmas Eve would impose a confiscatory 40 percent excise tax on so-called Cadillac health plans, which are popularly viewed as over-the-top plans held only by the very wealthy. In fact, it’s a tax that in a few years will hammer millions of middle-class policyholders, forcing them to scale back their access to medical care.

In a nutshell, as plan costs rise, more and more people will be hit with the excise tax or be faced with higher deductibles and less coverage as employers attempt to get under the cap.  Carefully note that these taxes start after the next presidential election.  Apparently President Obama doesn’t want to face the voters on the merits of his health care plan in 2012.  And this analysis doesn’t even include the planed $500 billion cut to Medicare, which will most certainly negatively impact seniors access to health care.  The more we learn about the Senate’s bill, the less there is to like.