Mr. FLEMING. Mr. Speaker, while there is controversy about the pending health care legislation, one point where there should be bipartisan agreement is that the Federal Government should not penalize people simply for being married.
After review, it appears that both the House and the Senate bills contain significant marriage penalties. In the House bill, an unmarried couple with an income of $25,000 each would have their combined premiums capped at $3,076 per year. If the couple gets married, their annual premium cap drops to $5,160 for the same insurance. In short, there is a $2,084 penalty for simply being married.
While under the Senate bill it would be less, the marriage penalty would still exceed $1,500 a year. Simply put, a marriage penalty on the middle class is just one more reason to dump this government takeover of our health care system.