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FINANCING HEALTH CARE REFORM.
I'm having an enjoyably wonky morning watching the Senate Finance Committee roundtable on options for funding health care reform. You can stream the meeting here. But for a clear and straightforward look at the ideas and issues involved, this bit of testimony from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities is as good an introduction as you'll find. I'm expecting the final compromise to look a lot like what they've offered. Note in particular their emphasis on "health-related excise taxes." Those discussions are happening in Congress and the administration, too. It's really looking like tobacco, alcohol, and sugared sodas are likely to get a bit more expensive after health reform. Polling around these policies is proving them more popular than most wonks expected, and they have the secondary benefit of being dual-purpose: They raise money and make Americans healthier.
COMMENTS (20)
I thought red wine was a health food--it's been pretty conclusively shown that a drink or two a day is actually good for your health.
Posted by: zyxw | May 12, 2009 1:11 PM
I'm mixed. A soda tax is as regressive as it comes. But so are the problems of obesity and diabetes. It seems that if this type of tax is going to take hold, now is the time.
Posted by: Mark | May 13, 2009 7:30 AM
While I'm all for making cigarettes and unhealthy sodas more expensive (keep your dirty hands off my booze!), some problems we've seen with state tobacco taxes is that when certain programs start depending on funding from these kind of sin taxes, the government suddenly has an incentive to keep the tobacco industry alive, which can influence policy.
Posted by: ed | May 13, 2009 9:37 AM
I voted for Obama because I think the rich should pay their fair share. So adding regressive taxes like these sin taxes hardly seems what we voted for.
Posted by: jud | May 13, 2009 11:50 PM
Oh my gosh, jud. Did you think only the rich sin? Anyone with money is going to be pinched.
Posted by: Terro | May 14, 2009 4:16 AM
The U.S. health care system is in crisis. This crisis is not limited to the 46 million who lack
health insurance – it extends to those who have health coverage but are worried about increasing
costs. Rising health care costs affect families and American businesses, as health insurance
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