TAX CREDITS WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM WON'T WORK! CHECK OUT THE FACTS ON EHEALTHINSURANCE.COM -- HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK (Extensions of Remarks - December 15, 2000)

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HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK OF CALIFORNIA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Friday, December 15, 2000

Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, books, toys, flowers, clothes and insurance? Now you can shop for just about anything on the web, including insurance. I recently window-shopped for insurance using ehealthinsurance.com; the same program Republican health care staffers received a briefing on last week.

My window-shopping included looking at available health insurance options in Florida, Montana, Louisiana and Georgia through the eyes of people who were 25, 35, 45, 55 and 60, both married and single.

The data reiterated our findings from March, which proved that in order to help the uninsured we cannot simply give them refundable tax credits; the tax credits have to be coupled with major insurance reform.

Many people who are uninsured are working poor and may not qualify for Medicaid; therefore if the tax credit does not cover almost the entire cost of insurance they will still not be able to afford it.

The results also proved that with age, tax credit becomes even more useless because health insurance prices rapidly increase as one ages. For example, a 25 year old low income couple in Billings, Montana could initially get by with a $316.00 credit per month, but by the time the couple reached age 60 they would need $1,032.00 per month to sustain the same plan from the same insurance company.

Shopping on the web is like shopping at wholesale; it allows us to buy books, clothes and the like at prices that most people can afford. The same thing cannot be said about insurance: without insurance market reform, health insurance will remain unaffordable for tens of millions.

To view charts relating to this issue, please visit my website at www.house.gov--stark.
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