Bush's Health Plan - Holes

George's health plan would taxes workers' "gold-plated" health insurance benefits. These tax revenues would supposedly offset the cost of helping Americans buy their own health insurance coverage. This plan will fail politically - even though parts of it are sound.

The tax system can't fix the health care system. Fiddling with the tax code will not meet most every social need, especially the health care sysytem

Employer sponsored health insurance is now entirely tax-exempt. Health coverage bought outside the job is not. Bush's proposal, mentioned in his State of the Union Address, would do the following:

Employees would be taxed for health insurance coverage costing more than $15,000 for a family or $7,500 for an individual. Families that buy their own health policies, meanwhile, could deduct $15,000 from taxable income. Individuals could take off $7,500. It doesn't matter if the actual cost of the health insurance is less.

The deduction would be a boon to the 27 million Americans who already buy health insurance outside of the workplace - and a matter of fairness. As Bush correctly noted, it would "level the playing field" for people who obtain health coverage outside of their employer.

This tax deduction is more about helping real-estate agents and free-lance consultants than dishwashers.