Friday, January 14, 2005
New NCPA articles underscore health policy priorities for 2005
[John C. Goodman, "Ten Easy Health Reforms," Brief Analysis No. 497, NCPA, 14 January 2005.
Laura Trueman, "Health Care Tax Credits for the Uninsured," Brief Analysis No. 498, NCPA, 14 January 2005.
Chris Moon, "Health care push begins," The Topeka Capital-Journal, 14 January 2005.]
On Thursday, Governor Kathleen Sebelius's health care adviser Bob Day attempted to explain to legislators why they should raise taxes and expand bankrupt state health care programs further:
Sen. Jim Barnett, R-Emporia, said he wanted to know whether the revenue generated from cigarette taxes would be able to sustain the health care program for the next decade. He said he has seen no evidence of that.
But Day said Department of Revenue estimates take into account people quitting smoking due to the tax.
"Good times and bad, the nice thing about addictions is that people still spend the money on it," he said. [Ed. Note: So, he is admitting the tax has little to do with reducing tobacco usage and is therefore simply a method of funding new efforts of questionable merit.]
Barnett, a medical doctor, also questioned whether the proposed expansion of government health care would affect many Kansans.
"My hunch is it's going to have a fairly minimal impact," he said.
Day said simply getting more people under health coverage will reduce some high medical costs people incur and then aren't able to pay off. Those costs drive up health care prices for everyone, he said.
While the Governor seems oblivious to the growing fiscal crunch faced by Medicaid and the significant problems with quality that exist currently, others are working to address these issues and provide legislators with a workable roadmap to real reform.
John Goodman at NCPA provides a list of ten key reforms at the federal and state level:
1. Roth HSAs for Seniors
2. HSAs for Medicaid
3. FSA Rollovers
4. Private Insurance Options for Medicaid
5. Make Health Insurance part of Minimum Wage
6. Employee Access to Portable Insurance
7. Insurance Options for Spouses and Dependents
8. Insurance Options for Part-time Employees
9. Fair Prices for Emergency Room Care
10. Flexibility for HSAs
Laura Trueman adds one more reform:
Support is growing for a proposed solution to the rising number of uninsured Americans: a health insurance tax credit. If properly designed and implemented, a tax credit would allow uninsured, low income individuals and families to purchase affordable, quality health insurance.
To be effective, a health care tax credit must meet some specific criteria: (1) It must be refundable for lowwage workers (that is, they get the subsidy even if they have no tax liability); (2) The credit must be advanceable, so that it can be used to pay monthly premiums as they come due, rather than a lump-sum payment received when tax returns are filed on April 15; (3) It must not come with costly mandates that raise the cost of insurance and price healthy people out of the market; (4) It must be widely available, so that the market is large enough to attract many buyers and sellers; (5) It must be limited in dollar amount so that it does not encourage wasteful spending; and (6) It should be compatible with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
[John C. Goodman, "Ten Easy Health Reforms," Brief Analysis No. 497, NCPA, 14 January 2005.
Laura Trueman, "Health Care Tax Credits for the Uninsured," Brief Analysis No. 498, NCPA, 14 January 2005.
Chris Moon, "Health care push begins," The Topeka Capital-Journal, 14 January 2005.]
On Thursday, Governor Kathleen Sebelius's health care adviser Bob Day attempted to explain to legislators why they should raise taxes and expand bankrupt state health care programs further:
Sen. Jim Barnett, R-Emporia, said he wanted to know whether the revenue generated from cigarette taxes would be able to sustain the health care program for the next decade. He said he has seen no evidence of that.
But Day said Department of Revenue estimates take into account people quitting smoking due to the tax.
"Good times and bad, the nice thing about addictions is that people still spend the money on it," he said. [Ed. Note: So, he is admitting the tax has little to do with reducing tobacco usage and is therefore simply a method of funding new efforts of questionable merit.]
Barnett, a medical doctor, also questioned whether the proposed expansion of government health care would affect many Kansans.
"My hunch is it's going to have a fairly minimal impact," he said.
Day said simply getting more people under health coverage will reduce some high medical costs people incur and then aren't able to pay off. Those costs drive up health care prices for everyone, he said.
While the Governor seems oblivious to the growing fiscal crunch faced by Medicaid and the significant problems with quality that exist currently, others are working to address these issues and provide legislators with a workable roadmap to real reform.
John Goodman at NCPA provides a list of ten key reforms at the federal and state level:
1. Roth HSAs for Seniors
2. HSAs for Medicaid
3. FSA Rollovers
4. Private Insurance Options for Medicaid
5. Make Health Insurance part of Minimum Wage
6. Employee Access to Portable Insurance
7. Insurance Options for Spouses and Dependents
8. Insurance Options for Part-time Employees
9. Fair Prices for Emergency Room Care
10. Flexibility for HSAs
Laura Trueman adds one more reform:
Support is growing for a proposed solution to the rising number of uninsured Americans: a health insurance tax credit. If properly designed and implemented, a tax credit would allow uninsured, low income individuals and families to purchase affordable, quality health insurance.
To be effective, a health care tax credit must meet some specific criteria: (1) It must be refundable for lowwage workers (that is, they get the subsidy even if they have no tax liability); (2) The credit must be advanceable, so that it can be used to pay monthly premiums as they come due, rather than a lump-sum payment received when tax returns are filed on April 15; (3) It must not come with costly mandates that raise the cost of insurance and price healthy people out of the market; (4) It must be widely available, so that the market is large enough to attract many buyers and sellers; (5) It must be limited in dollar amount so that it does not encourage wasteful spending; and (6) It should be compatible with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
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