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Tax Employer Provided Healthcare?

November 21st, 2016 at 05:54 am

This article in the Washington Post about

Text is how Republicans and Democrats and Link is https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/20/how-republicans-and-democrats-can-come-together-to-fix-obamacare/
how Republicans and Democrats can work together to fix healthcare was interesting.

The first and foremost suggestion is to eliminate the tax free treatment of employer provided health insurance. The majority of Americans are covered by this. The biggest benefit go to the biggest wage earners like how SS tax is capped. I think it would be a good proposal and if we wanted to move to a free market health insurance economy the way to go.

The idea is that people have to buy catastrophic insurance and then if you have money you can buy more layers of insurance and care. Or you can deposit it into a Health Savings accounts for maintenance/prevention. This will help probably the very rich and the poor. But middle class people if I had to guess will end up with the short end of the stick.

I will guess that employers will not pay people more to supplement the tax on the health insurance they provide. Or if they don't need to provide health insurance anymore and EVERYONE has to choose to buy it, that people won't get an equivalent raise. I think it would be interesting to see what would happen if we were all in the same boat of having to buy insurance. The only thing that would have to be left in effect is forcing insurers to cover pre-existing conditions.

But if we all didn't have employer provided healthcare? Do you think it would be better? Are you willing to give it up or pay taxes on it?

2 Responses to “Tax Employer Provided Healthcare?”

  1. Carol Says:
    1479732358

    I'm sorry but that doesn't sound like a solution. I'd want a system that really worked as a safety net for people. I could see putting us all on a single payer system. We've had employer insurance and have also bought our own private insurance. Now Medicare and medigap. However, something is really wrong. I spoke to a young mother last week with good, employer insurance whose kiddo had a one day, not overnight health scare. She went from one hospital to Boston Children's. She was still presented with an out of pocket bill for over $12,000 that her good employer insurance didn't cover.

  2. LivingAlmostLarge Says:
    1479746249

    Carol I am for a single payer system. But I don't think a lot of people in the country will support that as a solution without trying a free market healthcare. Obamacare is again I repeat a plan suggested by republicans in the 1990s against Hillarycare which was socialized medicine.

    I think that taxing the benefit will force people to reevaluate what they really pay for healthcare. That's the first step. Second step will be removing health insurance from employers. Then everyone will be forced to buy on equal footing. Will this make the market efficient? I predict not. I predict insurance companies will be too greedy and people will clamour for Medicare for all.

    Medicare is the biggest socialized single payer system in the US. And NO ONE is willing to give it up. I think another step will be Paul Ryan's privitizing medicare. Do that and privitize Tricare for military and we'll be well on our way to free market health insurance.

    That will give us an answer if we can afford a free market health insurance economy. I think putting a premium on affording healthcare is what most people think they want. But when reality comes they can't actually afford it. Then we have to make tough decisions.

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