The absolute antithesis of any of the democrat party's nightmare Sicko ideas, especially Hillary.
Posted on 07/31/2007 9:52:42 AM PDT by SirLinksalot
Rudy Giuliani's Health Plan: 'Take Care of Yourself'
Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani on Tuesday offered a consumer-oriented solution to the nation's health care woes that relies on giving individuals tax credits to purchase private insurance.
Critical to Giuliani's plan is a $15,000 tax deduction for families to buy private health insurance, instead of getting insurance through employers. Any leftover funds could be rolled over year-to-year for medical expenses.
Campaigning in this first primary state, Giuliani said his goal is to give individuals more control over their health care. The former New York mayor said as more people buy plans, insurers will drop their prices, making insurance affordable to those who lack it now.
"Government cannot take care of you. You've got to take care of yourself," he said. "As more of us do that, the cheaper it will become and the higher in quality it becomes."
Giuliani offered the broad outline of his plan but his campaign did not provide many specifics, including the estimated cost.
Democratic candidates John Edwards and Barack Obama have proposed more detailed steps to deal with the 47 million Americans lacking health insurance. Edwards' plan has an individual mandate requiring all Americans to have coverage. Employers would have to share the cost of insuring workers or pay into a public program.
Edwards estimates that his plan would cost $90 billion to $120 billion per year and would be financed by repealing President Bush's tax cuts on those making more than $200,000 per year.
Obama's plan calls for the creation of a public program similar to the health plan offered to federal employees, and a National Health Insurance Exchange for consumers to shop among private plans. Employers would have to share the cost of insuring workers.
Obama estimates his plan would cost $50 billion to $65 billion per year, paid for by letting Bush's tax cuts expire on those making more than $250,000 per year.
Giuliani used his appearance to continue criticizing the Democratic candidates, contending that their plans amount to socialized medicine.
"We've got to solve our health care problem with American principles, not the principles of socialism," he said. "I know Democrats will say this is unfair, I know they'll squeal... But I'm a realist. I face reality, which is: if you take more people and have government cover it, it's called socialized medicine."
He argued that Edwards' plan would cost twice what the Democratic candidate estimated.
Giuliani also spoke in favor of tort reform, saying those who are legitimately injured by doctors should be compensated, but damages should be capped and those who file frivolous lawsuits should have to pay the physician's legal fees.
"If a person gets injured, he should be compensated, but he shouldn't get the brass ring or win the lottery," Giuliani said.
The New Yorker leads in several national polls, but trails Republican rival Mitt Romney by double digits in a recent New Hampshire survey
The absolute antithesis of any of the democrat party's nightmare Sicko ideas, especially Hillary.
Eliminate Medicare and Medicaid, SSI benefits, and allow the market to work. Health care prices will plummet.
Romney's healthcare ideas are absolutely horrible.
Thompson? No idea. He's very sparing on details of exactly what he would propose as President.
I’d rather they repealed the income tax. But if not, I don’t mind tax credits for health insurance per se. But this idea that health care costs would come down if “more people signed up” is not real. Most of the country already has health insurance. The savings from greater economies of scale would be negligible, if any, and we don’t know how much the remaining people would end up costing the insurers. And for the healthy uninsured, there is no assurance a tax credit would be enough incentive to sign up.
Gee, and how is this going to reduce the cost of health insurance? What an idiot..... Giuliani doesn't understand the first thing about the FREE MARKET.
Plus, Giuliani's plan can in no way be described as taking care of yourself. It's a government plan to offset your health insurance costs.
Uh, no, Rudy.
And where exactly will this $15,000 tax deduction come from? Can I take the deduction as a widowed retiree on medicare? How much would the program cost? If my family’ health care cost is $5,000 per year will I get a $10,000 rebate from the IRS? Will the deduction remain in effect if the government should introduce a fair or flat tax?
A couple of things are needed.
Protections must be in place to keep insurance companies from canceling people who develop high risks. As long as you remain employed you have some protection from this.
The difference between what is charged an individual buying the service for himself and what is charged to an insurance company needs to be lowered back down to a reasonable level.
First real common sense plan I have heard.
Rudy is smarter than the average Liberal gives him credit for.
Actually, it might be you who doesn't understand the free market.
Giuliani is trying to make the individual consumer buy his own insurance. Many markets are going to open up to cater to this new type of consumer who will now be free to buy what he wants when he wants.
Get it?
All bis scheme does is allow you to pay for health insurances with pre-tax instead of post-tax dollars.
Fine by me.
If you approve of any tax deductions, why not this one ?
Of course, he should make appropriate reductions in who is eligible for SCHIP and Medicaid.
It is one thing to dislike Rudy as a candidate. But to call him a socialist is ridiculous. Cutting taxes, privatizing government functions, moving people from welfare to work are not the actions of a socialist.
By allowing you to use pre-tax dollars. It lowers your total cost.
Yeah, but individuals are not buying their own. They are depending on their employers making the choices.
When individuals start looking to buy their own insurance, new companies will be formed to sell to these new consumers.
And these new companies will be competing against one another meaning they will attempt to undercut each others' prices as always happens in a free market.
And prices come down.
“Rudy is smarter than the average Liberal gives him credit for.”
And not just the “average liberal,” either. As of right now, he’s my choice.
The difference between what is charged an individual buying the service for himself and what is charged to an insurance company needs to be lowered back down to a reasonable level.I asked an insurance salesman about this the other day and he said that the overhead is much more selling to individuals. Each individual is a separate billing account, whereas selling to an employment unit, there's only one bill for an entire group of people. I don't know if that accounts for the difference in price or not, but that's what he claimed.
Do you know what a tax deduction is ? Do you get a rebate from the IRS for your mortgage interest deduction ? Or any other deduction ?
It’s a deduction, not a credit, he’s proposing.
That's for darn sure.
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