It’s the latest from Georgia GOP Congressman Tom Price, who happens to be a physician, and it’s a modification of the plan he presented in the previous Congress. Read:
To assist individuals with the purchase of insurance in the absence of Obamacare’s subsidies, it would provide refundable tax credits. In a change from Price’s previous proposal, which adjusted the value of the credits based on the income level of the recipient, the new Price plan would adjust the value of the credits based on age. The credits would range from $1,200 for those between 18 to 35 and $3,000 for those over 50 – with an additional $900 credit per child up to age 18.
It would also provide individuals with a one-time $1,000 tax credit to put in a health savings account, from which individuals could pay for routine medical expenses that aren’t covered by their insurance. The legislation would increase the contribution limits of HSAs to match limits on Individual Retirement Accounts.
The idea of tying the credits to age was featured in a proposal released by a policy group, the 2017 Project, last year. The thinking of doing it based on age is that because younger individuals can obtain cheaper insurance, by weighting the subsidies toward older Americans, it’s possible to cover more people. Also, it’s easier to administer, because the government doesn’t have to worry about estimating income.
Obama will never sign this — it isn’t bossy enough.
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