Washington Post Examines Lack Of Congressional Action On Health Insurance Tax Deduction Proposal

Don't think this is what Congress had in mind...BD

The Washington Post on Monday examined the lack of congressional action on a proposal from President Bush that would provide federal tax deductions to help U.S. residents purchase health insurance, "with administration officials falling short in their efforts to sell the idea to key lawmakers, failing even to get a committee hearing." The proposal would provide tax deductions of $7,500 for individuals and $15,000 for families to help residents purchase individual health insurance or coverage through employers. In addition, the proposal would eliminate tax breaks for employer-sponsored health insurance in some cases.
The proposal "would have been a major change in both the tax code and the health care system, difficult to achieve under the best of political circumstances," and "last year was hardly that," with Democrats "not eager to compromise with a Republican president on a signature Democratic issue" and the "lack of working relationships" between administration officials and Democrats, according to the Post.
A senior Senate Republican aide said, "If there was any kind of failure here, it was really a failure to recognize that while it was a great contribution to the debate ... an idea of that magnitude was going to need a lot of work," adding, "It couldn't be put together in a few weeks, and it wasn't going to be politically viable last year in any sort of meaningful way" (Lee, Washington Post, 1/28).