Advertisement
This Article is From May 07, 2017

Warren Buffett Calls Obamacare Replacement 'A Huge Tax Cut For Guys Like Me'

Warren Buffett criticised Donald Trump's proposed alternative to Obamacare for being a tax-cut for the rich and potentially increasing healthcare costs in the US.

Warren Buffett Calls Obamacare Replacement 'A Huge Tax Cut For Guys Like Me'
Warren Buffett condemned the rising healthcare costs in the US. (Reuters)
Berkshire Hathaway Inc Chairman Warren Buffett on Saturday fumed that healthcare costs are eating away at the US economy like "tapeworm" and said the Republican approach to overhaul Obamacare is a tax cut for the rich.

The US House of Representatives on Thursday narrowly approved a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, a victory for Republican President Donald Trump who has called the 2010 law a "disaster."

Speaking at Berkshire's annual shareholders' meeting in Omaha, Buffett said his federal income taxes last year would have gone down 17 percent had the new law been in effect.

"So it is a huge tax cut for guys like me," he said. "And when there's a tax cut, either the deficit goes up or they get the taxes from somebody else."

The Republican bill would repeal most of the taxes that paid for the law formally known as the Affordable Care Act. The party's leadership has promised that the new American Health Care Act, which faces a likely overhaul and uncertain passage in the Senate, would address growing healthcare costs.

Buffett said rising healthcare costs are crippling the competitiveness of US companies abroad.

Unlike in many other countries where much of healthcare spending is publicly financed, employers provide health insurance coverage for nearly half of Americans and often face sky-rocketing rates.

Buffett said healthcare costs have risen much faster in the United States than in the rest of the world and "will go up a lot more."

"Medical costs are the tapeworm of American economic competitiveness," he said. "That is a problem this society is having trouble with and is going to have more trouble with."

Buffett is a Democrat who vocally supported Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful bid for the presidency against Trump. The fourth richest man in the world with a net worth totaling $74.3 billion, according to Forbes magazine, Buffett has vowed to donate nearly his entire fortune to charity.

Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger added that he thinks neither political party "can think rationally" about healthcare because they "hate each other so much."

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and Mary Milliken)
© Thomson Reuters 2017


(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world

Follow us:
Previous Article
Inside Details Of How Israel's Mossad Worked Out Pager Idea: 5 Points
Warren Buffett Calls Obamacare Replacement 'A Huge Tax Cut For Guys Like Me'
Escalating Tensions In West Asia: India Calls For Restraint By All Sides
Next Article
Escalating Tensions In West Asia: India Calls For Restraint By All Sides
Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com