Sen. Sununu Outlines Six-Part Health Care Plan That Includes Tax Credits, Small-Business Purchasing Pools
New Hampshire Sen. John Sununu (R) on Thursday said that his six-part health care plan would make health coverage more affordable for uninsured individuals and small businesses, the Nashua Telegraph reports. Sununu's plan would give a family without access to employer-sponsored health coverage a tax credit worth as much as $6,000 for health care expenses; allow small businesses to pool together to negotiate lower insurance rates; allow individuals to purchase coverage from any U.S. insurance company; encourage families to use health savings accounts; place limits on medical liability lawsuits; and encourage better use of technology to improve efficiency and reduce errors. The first four parts of the plan are outlined in legislation (S 3072) proposed by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), which Sununu is co-sponsoring.
Sununu called his tax credit plan a "bit more targeted" than presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain's (Ariz.) proposed plan, which would provide a tax credit worth as much as $5,000 to any family and eliminate the tax exclusion employers receive for offering health coverage.
Len Nichols, a health policy expert at the New America Foundation, said that studies show that such tax credit plans could reduce the ranks of the 46 million uninsured U.S. residents by two million to six million people. Nichols said, "You are going to get some coverage but not take a huge bite out of the uninsured," adding that for middle-income, healthy, self-employed U.S. residents, a "credit might put them over the top" to purchase insurance. "I'd give him high marks for trying, high marks for making it a credit, but you have to think about what also needs to happen in the individual market to be effective," Nichols said (Nashua Telegraph, 7/11).
