White House renews call for health insurance tax credits

The Bush administration has refined its proposal, making the tax credits larger and linking them to purchasing pools.

By Amy Snow Landa, AMNews staff. Feb. 18, 2002.

Washington -- President Bush is again trying to make good on his campaign promise to reduce the number of Americans without health coverage by providing tax credits to help them buy insurance.

Bush's fiscal year 2003 budget proposal calls for devoting $89 billion over the next decade to provide health insurance tax credits to families and individuals who lack employer-sponsored coverage and are not covered under public insurance programs.

The administration estimates the tax credits would provide access to health insurance for up to 6 million Americans who would otherwise be uninsured for one or more months of the year, and help many more low-income working families who currently pay for their private health insurance with little or no government assistance.

The proposal got good reviews from physician organizations.

"This clearly is a big step in the right direction, and we're pleased to see it," said AMA President Richard F. Corlin, MD. "We think it will help significantly with the uninsured, and it validates the concept of the tax credit, which we've been talking about for a long time."

Last year, the Bush administration sent a tax-credit proposal to Capitol Hill that fizzled and died amid bitter disagreement between the two parties over how best to expand health coverage.

But this year, the administration has put tax credits back on the legislative table -- and with a few changes that could make them more palatable to Democratic lawmakers, said Bob Doherty, director of public policy and government relations for the American College of Physicians--American Society of Internal Medicine. "I think that the movement we're seeing on the administration's side -- if the Democrats are really willing to reciprocate -- could get us to the point where we are able to get something done." [...]