"Bush to Urge New Tax Plan for Health Care Coverage "

[madrchsod]

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 — "President Bush intends to use his State of the Union address Tuesday to tackle the rising cost of health care with a one-two punch: tax breaks to help low-income people buy health insurance and tax increases for some workers whose health plans cost significantly more than the national average."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/washington/21health.html?_r=1&ei=5094&en=768f7fdf5d41e18c&hp=&ex=1169355600&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1169384895-Mj2dShUFGB7AZNm1TAwgaQ
Bush to Urge New Tax Plan for Health Care Coverage - New York Times

just how out of touch with reality can a person be to think this has a chance to ever pass. tax breaks to the poor? the poor do not have any money to even buy health insurance and people like me can not afford private insurance.tax those who have good insurance that pays 85-100% because they pay for it?

[tanyev]

1. Sounds like a lose-lose proposition.

I hope he gets out there and promotes the heck out of it.

[whistle]

2. Wow, tax breaks for the poor who essentially don't earn enough

... to pay taxes to pay for insurance which they can not afford to buy and then an added tax on top of insurance premiums which keep going up so that those middle income people who have health insurance now will not be able to afford the coverage they already have. Thus, heath care costs for the rich will remain relatively constant.

That is perfect reTHUGlican logic!

[XanaDUer]

3. bfd.

n/t.

[fasttense]

4. I don't quite understand it.

"It would work like this: The administration would cap the amount of benefits that can remain tax free at $15,000 for a family and $7,500 for an individual. Anyone whose health insurance cost more than that would pay taxes on the difference. For example, a family with coverage costing $16,000 a year would pay taxes on $1,000."

If you pay for health insurance over a certain amount, you have to pay taxes on it? What if you get health insurance that is valued over that cap ($15,000 for a family), you don't pay for it because it is a benefit of say putting in 20 years in the military. Military folks don't pay for that insurance but it is valuable insurance. Is this just a way to tax the military and people on government supported health insurance?

Seems to me the people who pay more than the average for their health insurance are people who have difficulty finding insurance or who are seriously ill and must use their health insurance more frequently.

Giving tax breaks to the poor is kind of silly since the poor don't have the money to buy the insurance anyway.

It doesn't sound very well thought out. But then is anything the bushes do well thought out?

[MGD]

5. Whose going to pay for it? That's the trillion dollar question that nobody wants to answer?

I predict lots of dialogue that ultimately leads to nowhere.

[tsuki]

6. Want to see someone go ballistic? Ask military retirees how much

they think they will have to pay in taxes because they are "over-insured?" In a miliary, miliary-retired area, it gives pause for thought.