Green: Common-Sense Healthcare Stuff

Nice to see that Mark Green gets the idea:

Green's health care proposals included:

• A new tax credit for individuals and businesses that buy long-term care insurance, which would start at 10% of the cost of the insurance in 2007 and eventually go to 50%. Green said the credit would "shift costs from taxpayers to private insurers," but he did not say what it would cost.
• A tax deduction for health savings accounts that would let people set aside cash for health care and carry it over from year to year - a tax break Green's campaign estimated would cost about $7 million a year. Doyle has vetoed the proposal, saying it does too little and unfairly helps the wealthy. [Pure BS, Jimbo]
• Making HSAs available to state workers. Tom Korpady, administrator of the division of insurance services in the state Department of Employee Trust Funds, said one legislative plan to do this would cost more than $30 million yearly. [Why hasn't this been done before?]
• $5 million in annual tax credits to help employers offset the cost of new "wellness" programs for employees.
• Requiring state agencies to develop wellness programs that would lower health-care premiums of workers who achieve goals such as lowering their cholesterol, stopping smoking and meeting nutrition and weight goals. [Done in private industry, why not here?]

The HSA tax deduction would harmonize State and Federal tax practices, as we've mentioned. Doyle's stubborn and blockheaded resistance will cost a lot of people a TON of time playing with their tax returns this spring.

But hey! He was able to keep tax-revenues higher--partially making up for his giveaways to the Casinos and WEAC.