Why would the Bush White House want to ever take away a tax deduction? They're pondering this one: eliminating the deduction on employer-provided health insurance. It's there in the Economic Report of the President.
"If automobile insurance were structured like the typical health policy, it would cover annual maintenance, tire replacement, and possibly even car washes," said the report, concluding that "health insurance markets can be improved . . . [to] focus on large expenditures that are truly the result of unforeseen circumstance" and "to provide a more standardized tax treatment of all health care markets."
The idea is that it encourages people to seek routine health care, which eats up money that could be spent on things like heart transplants and cancer treatment.
But that might not sit well with the 40% of Americans who take prescription drugs -- and are dependent on insurance to pay for the pricey pills. (WashPost)
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