Congresswoman Michele Bachmann talked about health care in Iowa Monday, touting a proposal where people buy their own health insurance plans with tax-free dollars, rather than being tied to an employer’s plan.
CBS News said she was speaking to a group of small-business workers in Waterloo and was asked how small businesses can afford health care for their employees. She said:
“I think you should be able to own your plan, so your employer doesn’t own it — you get to own it, and you buy it with your own tax-free money. You should be able to set aside whatever amount of your income you need to purchase the kind of health care you need for yourself, for your family.”
She continued to speak about what she sees as the evil of “Obamacare,” which she says will lead to rationing:
“What it will mean for a lot of us, is that when we need to see the doctor and we call up and say ‘Hey I want to get in,” rather than being able to get in this afternoon or tomorrow, we might have to wait two weeks.”
Great plan for those who earn enough to afford medical insurance, except for the idea that you’re going to get into a doctor’s office when you call rather than when there’s an opening.
But what does she propose for the rest of the population?
Again, she’s favoring the rich, who are in a high enough income bracket to to benefit from a tax avoidance scheme.
The bottom half of the population who pay mostly payroll taxes get bupkis.
Who cares if your insurance premiums are tax free? A lot of people still can’t afford them.
This gal is in la-la land.
This works only with “guaranteed issue” (applicant can not be turned down) and rate caps predicated on income. Except for a cohort of young, healthy people who don’t see health insurance as necessary, most people who have no health insurance either cannot get coverage or cannot afford coverage and oftentimes, both.