Administration’s Proposed Tax Deduction For Health Insurance Seriously Flawed

Publication Date: July 2007

Publisher: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Edwin Park

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

The Administration has threatened to veto the bipartisan SCHIP bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee by a 17-4 vote, as well as the SCHIP bill expected to come to the House floor the week of July 30, which would provide health coverage to between 4 million and 5 million uninsured children. The Administration has sharply criticized these bills as a move to “government-run” health care and argued that its standard deduction would be a far better approach to providing health insurance to uninsured individuals. The Administration’s tax deduction proposal, however, is seriously flawed, as this analysis explains. In addition, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the tax deduction proposal would result in fewer than 500,000 uninsured children gaining coverage.