From an op-ed in the Washington Post:
With union membership shrinking and wages strained, it might sound crazy to argue that labor should voluntarily give up a huge fringe benefit: tax-free health insurance provided by employers. But it should. In the long run, capping the amount of health insurance that employers ...
Direct-purchase insurance is when the patient buys it directly from the insurance company, rather than through an employer. How can this help bring down the cost of medical care? Linda Gorman explains in her latest article at the Library of Economics and Liberty:
Direct-purchase coverage is owned by an individual. Premiums ...
Insurance industry representative Karen Ignagni correctly fears that the "government-run insurance plan that Obama supports ... would put private insurers out of business." (Denver Post, May 24) This is why supporters of single-payer medicine like it -- it's an incremental step toward a government insurance monopoly.
But Ms. Ignagni's group has ...
Barack Obama says his health care reform "strengthens employer–based coverage." But the government's favoring employer-based coverage has had terrible consequences. Just ask Jason Furman, one of Obama's economic advisors. In an article published in Health Affairs he wrote:
The tax exclusion effectively reduces the price of employer-sponsored insurance relative to insurance ...
A common and legitimate concern about health insurance is not being able to buy insurance because of a preexisting condition. In this post I make the case that if government stopped subsidizing employer-sponsored insurance, more people would buy individual insurance policies when they are young and healthy. Such policies are ...
The tax exemption for employer-provided insurance has supported our employer-based insurance market, which leaves people vulnerable to losing coverage if they lose their job. Business Wire reports on an innovative product to remedy this problem - which government has caused in the first place:
UnitedHealthcare’s Golden Rule, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: ...
Writes John Graham at StateHouseCall:
The Wall Street Journal ran a disturbing story about the increasing number of people unable to pay medical bills. Some are even having to sell homes in a bad market to raise cash. Of course, the health care and political elites always interpret such harrowing tales ...
Something to think about from lawyer Peter J. Nelson:
Most reforms that promote individual ownership [of health insurance] would eliminate the current tax preference for employer-paid coverage and, instead, level the field so that all Americans get the same health-care tax advantages. Sen. John McCain's plan does this by creating a ...
So says Robert Carroll of the Tax Foundation, published in the Wall Street Journal:
The McCain health-care insurance tax credit may well be one of the most misunderstood proposals of this presidential election. Barack Obama has been ruthless in his attacks. But the tax credit is highly progressive and will provide ...
McCain wants to end the tax code's bias for employer-provided insurance. Obama wants to preserve it.
I've described how the tax exemption for employer-sponsored insurance coddles insurance companies, who know you must change jobs to buy from a competitor. Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby describes how it leads to rising medical ...
