title: Expanding access and choice for health care consumers through tax reform.
abstract: A refundable tax credit for the uninsured would complement the existing job-based health insurance system while letting people keep their job-based coverage if they wish. Among the wide variety of design options for a tax credit, policy and political analysis does not reveal an obvious choice, but a tax credit based on a percentage of spending may have a slight advantage. Congress should give states maximum flexibility to use existing funding sources to supplement the value of a federal tax credit and encourage the use of techniques to create stable insurance pools.
authors.affiliation: Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C., USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Kendall
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007183:Income Tax / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015271:Insurance Pools / Q000458:organization & administration; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009310:National Health Insurance, United States / Q000191:economics; D016730:Program Development; D014481:United States