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BTW, I don't think that there will be a tax on employer based health benefits. If there is, it'll be minimal, at the margins....for instance the first $XXXX is tax free, but anything over $XXXXX counts as income.
So people with gold plated health plans may have to pay tax on a portion of their benefits...but the garden variety health plan will still have the same tax advantages it has today.
I think this is very smart on Obama's part. He's not ruling anything in or out and he's not negotiating in the press.
You can't make deals that way. He hasn't publicly insisted on a public plan option, although most people feel pretty certain there will be one, and he hasn't ruled out a tax on benefits to help pay for the plan, although there probably won't be one.
Remember when George Bush said he wanted to "negotiate" with Democrats to fix social security, but ruled out any tax increase whatsoever ahead of time?
Well there was never even a meeting. You have to come to the table willing to give and take, not just take.
I've read alot of books about the Clinton administration, and the biggest reason they couldn't get anything done on health care, even with a democratic majority, was that they insisted on writing the bill themselves. They insisted on doing it their way, and wanted no input from the relevant committees.
That's the problem with Presidents who have all this "executive experience" but no legislative experience. They don't understand how the legislative process works. They don't understand how powerful the committee chairmen are. They think they're going to come to Washington and own the place, and it ends up owning them.
If Clinton had been willing to let congress take the lead, we would have had the Dole-Moynihan universal health care bill back in 1993. Instead, they wanted all the credit so we, the people, got nothing.
Very astute on Obama's part to let congress take the lead. That's the benefit of having a President who understands the legislative process. This time, we'll get something, even if it's not perfect.
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