A No Brainer: Bush's Health Care Proposal or John Edwards?

A No Brainer: Bush's Health Care Proposal or John Edward's? Democrats must hold off until we can implement a real program!

First I have to say that I for one am sick of being threatened with passing inadequate Bush Proposals or suffer the consequences. As you know, we suffer the consequences every time his proposals that benefit everyone but those who really need them. we must ignore his health proposal until we get a Democratic proposal and one that really helps those that need it.

Bush has proposed a major shift in tax policy that would for the first time treat health insurance costs as taxable income."Today, the tax code unfairly penalizes people who do not get health insurance through their job," said Bush, who will visit a hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and will be meeting with health care experts at the White House next week.

"If you buy health insurance on your own, you pay much more after taxes than if you get it through your job," he said. "I proposed to end this unfair bias in the tax code by creating a standard tax deduction for every American who has health insurance, whether they get it through their job or on their own."

Bush wants a tax deduction of $7,500 for individuals and $15,000 for families regardless of whether they buy their own health insurance or receive medical coverage at work.If passed by Congress, the proposal would be the first time that workers could get a tax break for medical insurance costs. But it also would be the first time that some employer-provided health care benefits would be taxed. Health care benefits provided by companies are currently exempt from income and payroll taxes. http://www.cnn.com/...

Why doesn't anybody call him on this? He brags of a tax break but does not say he is going to make your employer contributions, taxable. This is not a benefit to you but rather it seems to be another benefit for business owners. Compare that Bullshit proposal with John Edwards idea!

I don't really look at it this way but John Edwards Health Care proposal is said to be embracing a position that has been political suicide in the past by admitting he would raise taxes.

Unless I am missing something and if I am you will let me know, I don't look at stopping the tax Breaks to the wealthy as a tax increase and I think the majority, the average American who does not benefit from this warped tax cuts that Bush insists on making permanent will look at it the same way. Is there something else I haven't heard?

Anyway as you probably know by now he is proposing something that is way over due. He is calling for Quality Health Care coverage for everyone in what is being called the first major domestic policy initiative from a Democratic White House hopeful.

I happen to agree with that analysis and believe it is about time we start hearing concrete differences and ideas coming from our Democratic Presidential hopefuls.

The so called tax increase would pay for the plan's cost of up to $120 billion a year. Edwards' proposal would require that every business provide health care coverage for employees or help them pay for it and thus every American would have insurance.
I agree with Edwards proposal 100%. It is far superior to anything I have heard in the past and I agree that it will be cheaper for families and businesses to have insurance coverage while providing health care to the nation's 47 million uninsured.

Affordable Health care for all is said to be the number one domestic issue of our time and after getting control of our America again I can agree with that. What do you think?

John Edwards to me is setting the standard by taking on the big issues important to most average Americans and that is Iraq and health care. His plan would free up money for health care coverage by abolishing President Bush's tax cuts for people who make more than $200,000 a year and by having the government collect more back taxes.

He has my vote but of course his idea immediately opened him to criticism that he's a tax-and-spender in the mold of Walter Mondale. Again unless I am missing something I do not think of John Edwards as a tax and spend Liberal but rather as a progressive with good solutions to our problems.

As you know the idea of universal health care is not new. Schwarzenegger has proposed it for California and Romney has proposed it for Massachusetts. Romney's plan is proving to make more expensive than he led people to believe and may prove to be inequitable to those who need it the most.

I know Edwards is well insured in contrast to most of us but I believe that what John Edwards is proposing is a winner. After having his own personal experience with our current health care system bureaucracy after being frustrated dealing with it when his wife was suffering from breast cancer I believe he can now speak from experience and being in the position he is in, should have the answers to our health care system.

His plan also would provide government-funded insurance to all adults under the poverty line and all children and parents under 250 percent of the poverty line, which is about $50,000 for a family of four. The Edwards campaign is still working on other cost estimates, but says the goal would be to keep the cost to 5 percent to 7 percent for middle-income Americans. Love it! He would try to clamp down on rising costs with tax credits, expanded government programs like Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and changes to insurance laws to require coverage for all regardless of pre-existing conditions or other factors. And he would create nonprofit purchasing pools -- across a small area or maybe even several states -- so that consumers would have a way to buy an affordable and high quality plan. http://www.cnn.com/...

I really believe these are all fantastic proposals and would love to see them come to fruition. As you know, expanding Government programs like Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and changes to insurance laws to require coverage for all regardless of pre-existing conditions or other factors is an idea whose time has come.

As you know, it flies in the face of what Bush is proposing in his 2008 Budget proposal and it has already given birth to other ideas by potential Democratic Presidential nominees. This all adds up to a win, win for Average Americans. http://www.dailykos.com/...

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com