During the January 2007 State of the Union address president George W. Bush proposed a new change in the tax law that could have the effect of lowering health care costs for millions of Americans. According to the Wall Street Journal, the government hasn’t taxed employer-provided health insurance benefits but rather gives smaller tax breaks, or none at all, to many people who buy insurance themselves outside the workplace. The tax system is especially unfair to employees who work without traditional benefits, experts say. Effectively, Mr. Bush is proposing to eliminate the imbalance by giving everyone the same deduction — $15,000 for families, $7,500 for singles.
The Treasury Department estimates that the change would prompt a net increase of five million in the number of Americans with health insurance. Health insurance rates have been pushed to competitive lows in recent years because of the increased price transparency that the Internet has brought to health insurance shopping. What used to be a process of days or even weeks to obtain up-to-date health insurance rate quotes is now something that can be done in less than a few minutes online with a few clicks of a mouse.
President Bush has stated that a family without insurance earning $60,000 could get a total tax savings of about $4,500 under the proposed plan. That includes $2,250 of income-tax savings and an equal amount of savings from payroll taxes. This type of tax benefit will certainly help those who are on the fence about seeking health insurance to make the jump to finding affordable individual health insurance coverage. Also, it is estimated that health savings accounts (HSA’s) will continue to grow in popularity they already offer tax benefits that will complement the proposed tax law changes. HSA tax benefits along with the proposed health insurance tax law changes could result in almost all Americans being able to afford a comprehensive health insurance plan.
