Freedom Line Blog

Avik Roy, a conservative health policy expert, penned a very helpful primer on the latest GOP ObamaCare alternative.

The plan – the Patient CARE Act – is an updated version of similar reform concepts presented last year by three leading Republican members of Congress.

Along with other intriguing ideas, the Patient CARE Act replaces ObamaCare’s restrictive subsidy system – i.e. the money can only be spent on federally-approved insurance plans – with “a means-tested tax credit that individuals could use to buy a far broader range of insurance products, or deposit the funds in a health savings account.”

As a tremendous service to readers, Roy also summarizes how the Patient CARE Act compares to other conservative health reform alternatives: his Transcending ObamaCare and one championed by the 2017 Project. All three are serious proposals and deserve attention.

More on these and other ObamaCare alternatives as they develop…

The next time you hear a politician wax about the virtues of tax credits and special deals to lure in businesses, think about this home state businessman’s frustration with the practice in Michigan.

“Our legislators are busy voting on tax credits to a myriad of targeted industries, hoping that one of these ‘new-economy’ firms will save our state from collapse,” protests Bill Jackson of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce. “Isn’t it time government puts an end to picking winners and losers and gives every Michigan job provider a ‘tax credit’?”

Indeed.  The logic is undeniable.  If lower taxes are good for one business, why aren’t they good for all?  They are, but that isn’t the point.  For progressives like Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and her colleagues in the Democratic Party, legislating through the tax code is business as usual; especially if it allows them to prop up companies and industries that align with progressive dogma of a “green” economy.  In reality, the kinds of tax incentives aren’t breaks; they’re exercises in fiscal discrimination.   Once again, when it comes to finance and the economy, progressives have positions, free marketers have principles.  It really is that simple.

H/T: National Review Online