Chapter 3 - Media Article
Bush unveils health care tax breaks
http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/20/news/economy/bush_healthcare.reut/index.htm?postversion=200712012
President Bush announced a plan to use tax-code changes to encourage more people to buy health insurance. His answer to the problem, which many Americans lack it, was that he would emphasize private health insurance coverage rather than expanding government provided programs. Healthcare is the top concern among many Americans as the cost for private insurance rise. His proposal would use tax breaks to make it easier for people who do not have employer-provided health insurance for interest on their mortgages. Bush said the current tax code unfairly penalized people who want to buy health insurance on their own while offering incentives for expensive employer-provided health plans raising costs through the system. The proposal is trying to encourage the expansion of health-savings accounts that allow people to save tax-free for out of pocket health care expenses. Other states have been trying out their own proposals.
In chapter 3, we learned about the role of government in the market economy where we learned about why and how the government is involved. Part of the chapter discussed about how the government deals with healthcare, which this article is about. In Canada, healthcare is publicly and privately funded. While in the U.S., health is funded privately. In this article, it confirms that the Americans really are concerned about their health and private healthcare is not the best option. There are also third party effects. Canada follows public healthcare for the community’s benefit. Diseases won’t be spread because everyone can afford health care, while the U.S., some cannot. By making tax-code changes, people’s health will improve with benefits. In this situation, the government is trying to help the market by changing the tax code so that more people can buy health, which Americans lack. This is Bush’s way to balance the high cost of healthcare insurance.
Health is the most important thing in this world. The solution to high price healthcare will be to make it a public service, however Bush’s government still believes in private healthcare is best for the U.S. Therefore, their only solution to make things better is to make tax-code changes. If the U.S. followed Canada with public healthcare, it would eliminate the country’s biggest concern.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/20/news/economy/bush_healthcare.reut/index.htm?postversion=200712012
President Bush announced a plan to use tax-code changes to encourage more people to buy health insurance. His answer to the problem, which many Americans lack it, was that he would emphasize private health insurance coverage rather than expanding government provided programs. Healthcare is the top concern among many Americans as the cost for private insurance rise. His proposal would use tax breaks to make it easier for people who do not have employer-provided health insurance for interest on their mortgages. Bush said the current tax code unfairly penalized people who want to buy health insurance on their own while offering incentives for expensive employer-provided health plans raising costs through the system. The proposal is trying to encourage the expansion of health-savings accounts that allow people to save tax-free for out of pocket health care expenses. Other states have been trying out their own proposals.
In chapter 3, we learned about the role of government in the market economy where we learned about why and how the government is involved. Part of the chapter discussed about how the government deals with healthcare, which this article is about. In Canada, healthcare is publicly and privately funded. While in the U.S., health is funded privately. In this article, it confirms that the Americans really are concerned about their health and private healthcare is not the best option. There are also third party effects. Canada follows public healthcare for the community’s benefit. Diseases won’t be spread because everyone can afford health care, while the U.S., some cannot. By making tax-code changes, people’s health will improve with benefits. In this situation, the government is trying to help the market by changing the tax code so that more people can buy health, which Americans lack. This is Bush’s way to balance the high cost of healthcare insurance.
Health is the most important thing in this world. The solution to high price healthcare will be to make it a public service, however Bush’s government still believes in private healthcare is best for the U.S. Therefore, their only solution to make things better is to make tax-code changes. If the U.S. followed Canada with public healthcare, it would eliminate the country’s biggest concern.
posted by MarcoLeung at 12:24 PM
2 Comments:
I have a different opinion on the issue of health care. Currently in Canada, health care is provided by the government which means that it is a public good. However, health care is both rivalrous - the service used by one is not available to the next - and excludable. Thus, strictly speaking in economic terms, health care is not a public good and should be privitized. I'm not sure by how much Bush has given benefits to healthcare insurances, but if the benefits are significant, we can see more people choosing this option, which will promote constructive competition in health care. I see this as more of a step to perfectly competitive market.
O.Tian
I think privatizing health care is a good topic to argue with. Health care should be publicly owned because everyone should have equal access to health care. Some people have objection with long time waiting lists. Waiting list is the important issue in health care and government is trying to cut short the list as soon as possible. Other than that I think Cananda is doing pretty good job with health care. At least we don't have to pay for our hospital bed.
Post a Comment
<< Home