Posted on 01/20/2007 7:27:28 PM PST by listenhillary
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush will propose a tax deduction of $7,500 for individuals and $15,000 for families regardless of whether they buy their own health insurance or receive medical coverage at work.
The proposal, to be announced Tuesday in his State of the Union address, is aimed at giving the uninsured an incentive to purchase a medical plan. It also is designed to encourage those with generous plans to either embrace cheaper insurance or pay taxes on the part that exceeds the deduction, a Bush administration official familiar with the proposals said Saturday.
If passed by Congress, the proposal would be the first time that workers could get a tax break if they bought their own insurance. But it also would be the first time that some employer-provided health care benefits could be taxed. Health care benefits provided by companies are currently exempt from income and payroll taxes.
In his nationally televised speech, Bush also will announce steps to take some federal money now going to hospitals and other facilities and give it to states for programs to reduce the number of uninsured people.
(Excerpt) Read more at miami.com ...
sweeeeeeeeeet
One reason why insurance costs are so high...
"Larry Glasscock, chairman, president and CEO of Indianapolis-based Anthem Inc., will receive $42.5 million as part of a proposed stock and cash incentive deal."
http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2004/04/05/daily29.html
Want universal healthcare?
(1) Abolish Medicaid
(2) Phase-out Medicare (help existing seniors & the disabled in the meantime but make younger people more responsible)
(3) End all federal government healthcare regulations
(4) Simplify the tax code
are you saying his proposal for a tax on employer provided health benefits, is being falsely reported?
Anything Bush proposes (except for amnesty for illegals) is going to be DOA. No way the Democrats are going to pass anything proposed by Bush, regardless of the merits.
this new tax he is proposing on employer provided health insurance - if it passes - is going to be a disaster politically.
Agree
The devil is in the details. Will this benefit phase out if you have a decent middle-class income or above? Probably.
Will it phase out if you are subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax? Probably.
I've seen specialized tax cuts enacted over my lifetime, and only two of them made any important difference to my income tax payments: The Reagan Tax Cut, and the first Bush Tax Cut.
But it's virtually certain that the Democrats will not allow this tax benefit to apply to "the rich," meaning almost anyone who earns a living and pays taxes.
I haven't quite got all of the details, but I think a employer paid family plan would have to exceed 15K before it was taxable.
Still trying to comprehend the ins and outs of the new proposal.
....propose a tax deduction of $7,500 for individuals and $15,000 for families regardless of whether they buy their own health insurance or receive medical coverage at work.
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This is sadly humorous. I am 63 years old. I have to buy my own insurance that is a mediocre HMO plan for my wife and myself. It costs me over $2000 per month. That is over $24,000 per year. I cannot get Medicare for another two years and my rates just went up 25% this year because I got another year older. Sorry Mr. President -- your tax deduction sucks -- so I may save $6000 per year, and I am still getting screwed by the HMO plan who know they have to milk everything out of me before I can get Medicare and that is what they are doing.
Really sucks.
Maybe I am stupid, but I don't quite see the benefit in this. I pay a portion of my own premium for employer health benefits out of my before tax income. How will this benefit me?
I'm not cheerleading this, I don't know. Sorry
Unless the deduction limits are indexed to health care inflation (not the much lower CPI) within a couple of years nearly everyone will be taxed on their health insurance whether self or employer provided. Health insurance premiums are presently rising 8 - 15 % per year, depending on region.
Smells like snake oil to me.
But it's virtually certain that the Democrats will not allow this tax benefit to apply to "the rich," meaning almost anyone who earns a living and pays taxes.
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Of course the Socialists will trash the idea, good or bad, makes no difference -- it was Bush's idea. It must be squashed.
It seems that this could be detrimental.
Companies could drop health plans because individuals would have access to the tax deduction. A boon for companies.
Insurance companies would benefit by providing individual, rather than group, plans. Individual policies derive greater premiums.
Employees could see their company dropping insurance coverage, and they could be forced into individual, rather than group, plans at increased premiums.
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CAUTION: This could turn out to be as big a fiasco for the employee as the Medicare Prescription Drug bill was for seniors.
15K isn't that much. The AVERAGE cost of a plan for a 4 person family in 2006, was $11,500. so anyone with a "better" plan, like someone working for a Fortune 100 company, is likely going to pay this tax.
and what happens to goverment employees? in my school district, teachers receive gold plated plans - will they be taxed on it, or will they be exempt?
the bottom line is - if you want LESS of something, you tax it. If you want LESS employer provided health coverage, a tax will accomplish that. so how exactly does this new tax help solve the health insurance problem in the US? why punish people who have coverage, by taxing it if the government deems its "too good"? this idea is coming from a republican administration?
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