bush's health care proposal -- it's a start

on tuesday during the state of the union address the president briefly outlined his proposal for better health care. taxing benefits employee's receive from their employers. BRILLIANT. he is proposing a new tax. generally i'm opposed to new taxes but this one is a tax my wife and i are already paying so why not let the rest of the country join us? this tax he speaks of works exactly like the domestic partner benefits tax. the employee pays tax on whatever portion of their health care benefits the employer pays for. not a bad idea if you ask me because in all fairness if we, those with domestic partner benefits, get taxed shouldn't everyone? sadly, this may be easier to pass than overturning the tax laws as they pertain to dom. partner benes.

in addition to this new tax the president proposed a tax credit of $15k for families and $7,500 for singles. now i wonder if this would apply to all those who have domestic partner benefits??

this is a start despite there being a tax involved. this may not be the best start though, because honestly, if you can't afford health care benefits now how will you be able to with a tax credit next year? you'd have to wait until you got that tax credit. it sounds like a good system only in that, from my selfish viewpoint, it makes us all a little more equal.

to really make something like this work congress should de-regulate the insurance industry and not leave it up to the states to do so. i believe it is pennsylvania who has done this and health insurance is far more affordable there than it is in new york or massachusetts who have highly regulated industries.