* : Boucher health insurance tax

Topics: Health
08 Sep 2009

From: Ervan Darnell

One of the open questions about current efforts to have the government
run more of health care is whether or not any private escape will
remain. The answer from Canada is "no". Private health care is more or
less outlawed. The answer from Germany is "yes", where people can still
buy good quality health care outside of the government system.

This week the Democrats brought the U.S. closer to the Canada system
with the Boucher proposal. It would tax premium health plans [1]. That
is, if you want to buy better health care than what the government
offers, you will be punished for it.

Obama claimed the so-called "public option" would be revenue neutral and
not unfairly compete against insurance companies. That's nonsense on
the face of it (as it implies an unmotivated and politically compromised
government bureaucracy is more efficient than a private company). But
the Boucher proposal makes it clear that neutrality is so foreign a
concept to Democrats that the "public option" would be undercutting
private insurance from day 1. It is indeed an excuse to socialize the
system.
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[1] 9/8/09 Newshour

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