For almost 30 years my family’s sole source of income was from self-employment. Four years ago I went to work as an employee—my first job in 30 years—for Utne Reader but continued to pay my own health insurance. And it hurt. Six months ago I became an employee of the University of Minnesota. Lower pay than I’ve ever made in my adult life, but the shining benefit of mostly-employer-paid health insurance (I’m required to pay about US$180 per month in pre-tax dollars covering my wife and me).
Now comes Bush with a proposal—to be unveiled in Tuesday’s State of the Union address—to tax my health insurance benefit. Thanks, but no. Bush, the worst president in my or my grandparents’ lifetimes, is verging on the brink of impeachment and wants to diddle with middle class tax increases. Demonstrating yet again that he hasn’t a clue and is completely out of touch with reality, the likelihood of Bush being run out of office on rails is increasing by the minute.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) summed up Bush’s plan succinctly:
“The market is broken. Private insurance companies cherry-pick. They’re trying to take just healthy people and send fragile people over to government programs more fragile than they are, and I’m not sure what this does to fix the broken market.”
The Bush plan would cap tax-free health insurance benefits at US$7,500 for an individual and US$15,000 for a family. The cost differential would be taxed because, according to Bush, the current system “unwisely encourages workers to choose overly expensive, gold-plated plans.” Meanwhile, those paying for their own insurance would get a US$15,000 deduction, even if their insurance costs less. Robbing Peter to pay Paul never works.
With what Bush has spent on his misanthropic and misguided folly in Iraq, America could have solidified Social Security for generations to come and extended and improved Medicare for the entire citizenry. But instead, Bush wants to tax those with health insurance to pay for those without.
Stick a fork in him; he’s done.
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