Bush Vetoes Children's Health Care Bill, Continues to Promote His Faulty Tax Proposal

October 5, 2007 6:44 PM |

This week President Bush vetoed the bill to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (H.R. 976) that was approved by the Senate and House of Representatives last week. The bill would increase funding for the program by $35 billion over ten years by increasing the federal tobacco tax for cigarettes from 39 cents to a dollar per pack. The President has promoted his own idea for expanding health care -- a change in the tax code that would weaken the employer-based health care system without guaranteeing that it's replaced with a viable alternative.

 
The President's own proposal would eliminate the deduction for employer-provided health insurance and instead offer a deduction for health insurance purchased on the individual market (for the purchase of coverage that is not employer-provided). The President's proposal would basically make the tax code biased towards individually purchased health care and even high-deductible health care. There would no longer be any tax incentive for employers to provide health care, so many could "cash out" the health care benefits they currently offer, meaning some employees would receive additional monetary compensation instead of health insurance. The problem is that these employees would have to turn to the individual health insurance market, where plans offered are much more expensive and less generous. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains this and other problems with the concept.
 

None of this is to say that the way the tax code currently treats health care is optimal. The deduction for employer-provided health insurance provides the greatest benefit for those in the highest income brackets and the lowest benefit for those in the lowest income brackets, making it an undeniably regressive policy. Also, it does nothing for the estimated 45 million Americans lacking health insurance.

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This page contains a single entry by published on October 5, 2007 6:44 PM.

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