The Democratic National Convention
helped draw attention back to the age-old progressive dream of universal
health insurance coverage. Senator Bill Bradley made this goal a
centerpiece of his prime-time Convention speech, and Vice President Al
Gore's acceptance speech underlined his and the Party's commitment to
stay on course towards universal coverage "step-by-step."
But what many Convention viewers may not know is that there is an
ever-increasing bipartisan convergance on how to move towards universal
health coverage: through refundable tax credits that the uninsured could
use to buy private health insurance. Tax credits were at the center of
Senator Bradley's health plan, and are part of Vice President Gore's.
Many Democrats who used to support government-provided universal health
insurance, such as Reps. Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Barney Frank (D-MA),
now prefer tax credits. So does First Lady and New York Senate candidate
Hillary Clinton. These Democrats are joined by such Republicans as House
Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX), Sen. James Jeffords (R-VT), and,
though he has not talked about it much, presidential nominee Gov. George
W. Bush.
In a recent Backgrounder for the Progressive Policy Institute, David
B. Kendall lays out a top ten list of reasons to enact a health
insurance tax credit, which, to briefly summarize, are:
#10: Because we can. The bipartisan support is large and
growing.
# 9: It's a simple idea.
# 8: It's only fair. People with job-based health insurance
already get a tax break; those without don't.
# 7: It's progressive. Unlike tax deductions, refundable
credits give those most in need the greatest help.
# 6: It encourages personal and social responsibility. Unlike
government- or even employer-provided insurance, a tax credit would give
consumers control over their own health insurance decisions.
# 5: It's not bureaucratic.
# 4: It avoids the stigma of welfare.
# 3: It puts the managed care backlash in perspective.
Insuring the rights of people who already have health insurance is
important, but not as important as making sure everybody has some
insurance.
# 2: It's not subject to annual budgetary whims, because it's
a tax credit, not an appropriated program.
# 1: We've tried everything else. Both comprehensive health
care reform and piecemeal expansions of federal programs have fallen
short. It's time for something new.
It would be too much to expect the growing convergence of support for
health care tax credits to bloom forth into legislation or explicit
bipartisan agreement during the home stretch of the 2000 campaign. But
it's important that neither party back away from it, and prepare to get
it done next year. It's one dream that does not involve tilting at
windmills.
To
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