Will Tax Breaks Make Individual Health Insurance Affordable?January 2008
In President Bush's final State of the Union address, he mentioned a
medical coverage topic that has been on everyone's mind in the last few months: will tax breaks really make individual health insurance more affordable?
Bush's proposed new tax breaks for individuals who purchase their own medical coverage, represents the only new health care initiative of his final year in office, insinuating that he supports similar plans that have been recently bandied about by others in his party.
It's a popular plan among republicans, and versions of a revised tax code for those who purchase
individual health insurance can be seen in the plans put forward by primary candidates like former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Democrats, however, aren't too fond of leaving medical coverage to individuals. They tend to favor more sweeping legislation on a federal scale, mostly because insurance is usually far more expensive when you purchase an individual policy than in group coverage purchased through an employer.
And in an interesting twist, this week big business also got in on the idea of tax breaks for individual health insurance. According to a health care related press release by the National Business Group on Health, or NBGH, a non-profit association of nearly 300 large employers including General Motors and Wal-Mart Stores Inc, every adult American should be required to purchase health insurance coverage for themselves and their children on a tax-advantaged basis, but it shouldn't be incumbent on business owners to offer or pay for it.
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Medical Coverage in Legislation
Did you know...
60% of Americans favor significant health care reform?
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Now, it's not too surprising that an organization that supports large-scale employers would want to shift responsibility for medical coverage from employers to individuals, but with the failure of California's universal health care bill, many legislators feel like tax breaks may be the only means by which consumers will finally find health care relief.
That, of course, will depend on who ends up in the White House in 2009--and of course--what Congress thinks of their plans. No matter what, the smart choice is for individuals to seek their own coverage, since that's still quite a long time away, and on top of it, it's unlikely that all employers will be able to provide health insurance plans for their employees anytime soon.
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