Is There a Right Way to Promote Health Insurance through the Tax System?

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Abstract

The exclusion of employer contributions to health premiums has skewed the development of the insurance market, resulting in generous coverage for higher-income workers but leaving millions of others uninsured and facing rapidly rising health costs. The paper considers four recent reform proposals: capping the exclusion, tax credits for insurance, tax incentives for high-deductible insurance and health savings accounts, and full tax deductibility of out-of-pocket spending. Such proposals could promote greater efficiency and equity in the health market, but insurance market reforms are also needed to minimize potential disruption to employer risk pools.

Joseph Antos is the Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at AEI.

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About the Author

 

Joseph
Antos

  • Mr. Antos's research focuses on the economics of health policy—including Medicare and broader health system reform, health care financing, health insurance regulation, and the uninsured—and federal budget policy. He has written and spoken extensively on the Medicare drug benefit and has led a team of experienced independent actuaries and cost estimators in a study to evaluate various proposals to extend health coverage to the uninsured. His work on the country’s budget crisis includes a detailed plan to achieve fiscal stability and economic growth developed in conjunction with AEI colleagues.  


    Joseph Antos is also a commissioner of the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission and a health adviser to the Congressional Budget Office.  Before joining AEI, Mr. Antos was Assistant Director for Health and Human Resources at the Congressional Budget Office.




    Watch Mr. Antos in an interview with Bill Erwin of the Alliance for Health Reform on "Will Health Reform Reduce the Federal Deficit?"

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  • Phone: 202-862-5938
    Email: jantos@aei.org
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