The tax man cometh

Here are some of the causes for the high premium costs:

There is a total of $11,000,000,000 (11 billion) collected annually from drug and device manufacturers and insurance providers. That amount includes $6.7 billion from the providers. That gets added to the premium costs.

Insurance companies are not allowed to pay any employee more than $500,000 in any year. If it does, the excess is not deductible on their tax returns. That extra tax adds to your premium.

Here are some other taxes that may affect you:

Medical costs on schedule A of your tax return is deductible to the extent they exceed 10% of AGI. That's an increase from 7 1/2%. That decreases your deduction.

If your wages exceed $250,000 on a joint return, then you pay an additional .5% tax on the excess. That additional tax also applies to self-employed earnings.

There is a 5% tax on cosmetic surgery that does not alleviate a medical condition.

And of course, there is a 10% tax on tanning services.