Becker on health care finance reform

medical%20finance%20011608.jpgGary Becker proposes four common sense reforms for the American health care finance system, one of which is unassailable:

Eliminate the link between employment and the tax advantage of private health insurance. Since much of the spending on health are investments in human capital, there is good reason to exempt these expenditures, along with other investments, from income taxes. However, this employment link is inequitable because it does not provide the same tax advantages to families without employment-based insurance. It also encourages expensive employer health plans that have significant consumption components since the government picks up much of the cost of such coverage.

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