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January 25, 2006

Bush's answer to everything: war and tax breaks

Just how out of touch can Bush be?

The US healthcare crisis is teetering on the brink. So what's the Bush Administration solution? New tax breaks, of course:

President Bush will propose that Americans be allowed to take tax deductions on more of their out-of pocket medical expenses, as part of an initiative the White House believes will rein in soaring health costs by shifting responsibility toward individuals, according to congressional and other sources familiar with the administration's thinking.

The new tax breaks for personal health spending, to be included in the 2007 budget Bush will release in less than two weeks, are designed to help the uninsured and to allow people with insurance to write off a greater portion of the money they spend on co-payments, deductibles and care that is not covered. Under current tax rules, people can deduct medical expenses only if they exceed 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income.

Wow. These guys just don't get it.

The vast majority of people who are burned financially by health care costs are the poor and the lower middle class. Their burden is huge. Tax breaks won't fix their problem.

The health care system is broken, and Bush is following the same pattern of callous ineptitude that dogs most of his policies.

This "tax break" bone that he's tossing out is a bandaid..and a weak one at that. But big pharma and insurance companies that line the GOP campaign treasure chests don't like the needed fixes because that cuts into their bottom line.

So Captain Codpiece and his band of GOP lecturn warmers have no intention of fixing this system. It won't get them juicy campaign contributions and it won't keep them in power. No sense in going out of their way for the poor and the lower middle class.

Conducting a "war on health care costs" just isn't quite as sexy as a "war on terrorism" or a "war on taxes". The GOP can't get the same cachet miles out of the Abramoff style fundraisers by passing legislation that allows pharmacies to negotiate for lower drug costs or making health insurance available to all citizens.

Posted by Carla at January 25, 2006 12:23 PM