Bush’s Tax-Credit Proposal Is Best Option To Cover the Uninsured, Op-Ed Says

As opposed to expanding public health programs, President Bush's tax credit proposal would give the uninsured "tangible help in purchasing private health insurance," Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute, a not-for-profit health reform group, writes in an St. Paul Pioneer Press opinion piece (Turner, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 2/20). Under Bush's proposal, uninsured families with annual incomes less than $25,000 would qualify for a $3,000 tax credit that would assist them in purchasing private health coverage. Families with annual incomes between $25,000 and $60,000 would qualify for a smaller tax credit based on income. Individuals with annual incomes less than $15,000 would qualify for a $1,000 tax credit. Individuals with annual incomes between $15,000 and $30,000 would qualify for a smaller tax credit based on income. The proposal also would help states establish purchasing pools to reduce the cost of health insurance premiums for low-income residents who would use the tax credits to purchase health coverage (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 1/31). Turner writes that "access to health coverage is critically important," but "achiev[ing] universal coverage through broad expansion of government-run health-care programs" is not the way to do it. Government-run health insurance programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare, "bury doctors under mountains of paperwork that distract them from patient care and extinguish the incentive for creative, cost-effective medical treatments," Turner maintains. Privatized systems, in contrast, provide incentives for innovation, Turner states. Turner states that with Bush's tax-credit proposal, the uninsured would not be "shoved into a welfare entitlement program such as Medicaid" but rather would have the "dignity of private health insurance like nearly 180 million Americans with job-based coverage." She adds that Bush's proposal would put "control in the hands of citizens to make their own choices in a competitive, free market." Turner concludes, "Bush's plan would facilitate a change toward consumer-drive health care that can show the world it is possible to provide care for all" (St. Paul Pioneer Press, 2/20).