Riley to sign health insurance bill (Alabama Shows The Way To Have Solutions With Tax Deductions)

Birmingham Business Journal ^ | June 9, 2008 | Cindy F. Crawford

[Philly Nomad]

wow, you’d make a great abused spouse.
For every $100 in health care costs, the state is giving me $6 back.
So for everybody who’s already paying their employee’s health care, it’s a nice tax subsidy for them. And for the folks where they couldn’t afford $100 per employee, they sure as heck can’t afford $94 per employee.

[Southack]

"For every $100 in health care costs, the state is giving me $6 back."

You'd prefer that the state keep that $6 of your money?

[CowboyJay]

Ah! Nice catch. My math was off.

[Philly Nomad]

That 6 bucks isn’t going to entice any businesses to come into the State, that 6 bucks isn’t going to encourage any owners to suddenly give insurance to their employees, and that 6 bucks has to be made up in the budget somewhere else.

[Southack]

That $6 is 6%.

Try killing a 6% sales tax to see a local economy heat up!

...but no, you want Alabama businesses taxed an extra 6%, instead.

[socialismisinsidious]

Thanks for the ping. I ping to the list any time I find an article regarding solutions to the so called health care crisis. I was not implying that the plan outlined in this article is or is not socialist in nature. The name of my ping list just happens to be called Socialized Medicine etc….

[Philly Nomad]

Either you are wrong or the guy who wrote post 12 is wrong.

[Southack]

See post 14.

[Philly Nomad]

right, and that’s a difference of 6 dollars, not 6 percent.

So which one of you guys is wrong?

[Southack]

$6 on a $100 bill *is* 6%.

[Philly Nomad]

That would only be 6% if and only if the insurance company was providing the discount, but because taxpayers are providing the subsidy we have to compare that six dollars against what the business owes the state. And by my rough calculations it's actually 0.15% And that's assuming that health insurance costs weren't already tax deductible.

What this is doing is telling small businesses “If you want to save $6, you have to spend $100.” Any businessman who says yes to this proposal, won't be in business for long. Or will be asking for another taxpayer subsidy in a few more months.

[Southack]

Oh give it up! You are definitely abusing the nature of internet to forever have the last word, no matter how inane.

[Philly Nomad]

Well, if that was true, you would be able to point out the flaws. I’m using your numbers and showing that this bill is nothing more than a dog and pony show that’s going to cost the taxpayers money to subsidize businesses who already buy health insurance for their employees. Now you may be generous with taxpayer money, but I’m a conservative.