Obama's Healthcare Plan Ends Tax Breaks for the Wealthy

Healthcare is shaping up to be one of the bigger soapbox items presidential hopefuls will have to stand on in order to convince the country that they’re the real deal.  Towards that end, Democratic candidate Barack Obama has offered a sweeping health care plan that would provide every citizen a means for coverage.  The potential stumbling block?  Obama has called on government, businesses, and consumers to share the costs of the program.

Government, businesses, and consumers have historically not cared to share the bill to provide healthcare to anyone who isn’t government, business, or, in the case of consumers, themselves.

To sweeten the proposal, Obama suggests that the average consumer could save $2,500 a year.  Campaign aides estimated the cost of the program at $50 billion to $65 billion a year, financed largely by eliminating tax cuts for the wealthy that are scheduled to expire.

The wealthy like their tax cuts – cuts that the current president, George Bush, would like to see made permanent.

Though Obama is using the buzz-phrase “universal healthcare” – his plan still relies on private insurers; however, it adds additional money to pay for expanding coverage. It would also create a National Health Insurance Exchange to monitor insurance companies in offering the coverage.  Those who can’t afford coverage would get a subsidy on a sliding scale depending on their income, and virtually all businesses would have to share in the cost of coverage for their workers.

Obama’s plan differs from another Democratic hopeful’s, John Edwards.  Edwards would like to mandate health insurance in much the same way that car insurance is a mandate.  Obama’s plan is mandate-free.

Obama is also not shying away from discussing the expense of his program, which is, admittedly, pretty high.  "To help pay for this, we will ask all but the smallest businesses who don’t make a meaningful contribution to the health coverage of their workers to do so to support this plan," said Obama. "And we also will repeal the temporary Bush tax cut for the wealthiest taxpayers."