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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (757663)	1/21/2007 3:11:40 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769670

Sun Tsu's words have been know to show up in 'fortune cookies', I'm sure. They have to give Confucius a break sometimes. :-)

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (757663)	1/21/2007 3:14:12 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Bush to propose tax increase on 'Cadillac' health plans: Bush to Propose Tax Change to Penalize High-Cost Health Plans By Brendan Murray bloomberg.com Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush will propose next week changes to the U.S. tax system that would penalize individuals enrolled in expensive health-care plans and encourage the uninsured to buy low-cost coverage, a White House official said. ``The tax code unfairly penalizes people who do not get health insurance through their job,'' Bush said in his weekly radio broadcast. ``It unwisely encourages workers to choose overly expensive, gold-plated plans.'' Bush gave no details in the address, saying those would come Jan. 23 in his State of the Union speech. ``I will propose a tax reform designed to help make basic private health insurance more affordable -- whether you get it through your job or on your own,'' he said. An administration official familiar with Bush's plan told reporters yesterday that the president will ask lawmakers to approve a fixed deduction from income and payroll taxes. The intent is to remove the incentive for excessive, often employer- paid plans and entice people with no insurance to find at least basic coverage. Without specifying the threshold Bush will propose, the official said the new policy would allow workers who either get their health insurance through their employer or who aren't insured to deduct the amount from their tax liability. For those whose health benefit costs exceed the limit that Bush sets, it will amount to a tax increase -- or a disincentive to purchase expensive health policies. Revenue Neutral For the federal government the plan will be revenue neutral, the official said, meaning it won't raise the Treasury's liability. Workers will get the same deduction, which won't have to be itemized on tax returns, regardless of how they receive their coverage or how much their insurance costs. Bush's plan likely will hasten insurance companies' efforts to market products to individuals and not just bulk plans to employers, the official said. The plan aims to right the imbalance that exists in some 17 million Americans who get health insurance unattached to an employer, 150 million who are insured through their employer and some 47 million who have no coverage, the official said. The proposal would represent a reversal of the administration's position on capping the tax exclusion of health costs. Advisory Panel A tax advisory panel that Bush commissioned last year recommended taxing workers on health insurance benefits valued at $11,500 or more for a family, arguing the current system encourages expensive and unnecessary ``Cadillac'' plans. Al Hubbard, director of the White House's National Economic Council, in January 2006 said in an interview that ``I know the president's not interested in pursuing that.'' In the State of the Union speech, Bush also plans to propose making more money available to the Department of Health and Human Services to encourage states to provide more insurance to low- income residents and those who have trouble getting coverage, the official said. The Bush administration is seeking to address a key concern of voters struggling with health-care costs that are rising at more than twice the rate of inflation. Health expenses ranked second to the Iraq war among Americans' biggest worry in a Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll Jan. 13-16, which showed 20 percent of respondents saying getting affordable health care was their top concern. Last Updated: January 20, 2007 10:06 EST