Posted on 09/15/2007 12:46:52 AM PDT by restornu
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's recent health-care reform proposals, which rely on free-market principles and federalism, will go a long way to fixing our health-care system's woes.
The centerpiece of Mr. Romney's plan is to attack the tax code's discrimination against cost-effective private insurance. He proposes to allow individuals to deduct out-of-pocket health-care expenditures from their taxable income, allow individuals who purchase health insurance premiums on their own -- rather than through their employer -- to deduct health insurance premiums, and to expand Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) by eliminating the requirement that a qualifying health plan contain a high deductible.
Mr. Romney's proposal also allows persons who purchase health insurance on their own to deduct their premium payments.
This tax deduction will make insurance significantly less costly for unemployed persons and workers in firms that don't offer insurance coverage. It is also unnecessary. Mr. Romney's proposal to eliminate the "high deductible" requirement will allow individuals to establish an HSA regardless of their health plan's deductible.
Eliminating the high deductible requirement will maintain the cost-reducing benefits of HSAs. Evidence from the RAND Experiment indicates that most of the expenditure-reducing effects of health-plan deductibles occur at low levels of deductibles.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
That's not exactly true. You can still choose not to buy health insurance, but if you don't, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will take away your all your tax exemptions and put the extra tax money it collects as a result into an interest bearing escrow account with your name on it. Once that account reaches a maximum balance (something like 10 G's), MA lets you claim your exemptions again. MA will then use any funds in that account to pay your medical bills should you come into an emergency room and try to freeload off the taxpayer. Should you eventually become insured, the government will refund the money to you, plus interest.
I don't see why any conservative should object to this. The fact is, if you don't have health insurance, you can stick hospitals and taxpayers with your emergency room bills. All Romney's plan does is make sure that those who don't buy insurance have in reserve enough cash so that this is less likely to happen.
Personally, I would have no objection to making health insurance legally compulsory, but that's not what Mitt Romney did.
You can still choose not to buy health insurance, but if you don’t, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will take away your all your tax exemptions and put the extra tax money it collects as a result into an interest bearing escrow account with your name on it. Once that account reaches a maximum balance (something like 10 G’s), MA lets you claim your exemptions again.
>>>>>>>>>>>.
I did a word search on the text of the MA law and the word escrow is not in it. Can you show me where this rpovision is in the law? TIA
The whole thing is laid out in Chapter 111M of the statute.
Yep that’s basically what it says.
There is no escape except to leave or be an illegal immigrant. Socialism cannot work unless all are forced to participate in the “free economic choices”.
Discretely correcting market failures need not result in socialism.
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