House Republican Task Force Endorses Principles For Health Reform

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Jun 22, 2016, 05:59 ET

DALLAS, June 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Task Force advising House Speaker Paul Ryan on health reform has released a long awaited report. For the first time in the six years since the passage of Obamacare, it appears that Republicans have finally united behind an alternative approach.

Many of the principles have already been incorporated in legislation introduced by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) earlier this month. These include:

A uniform health tax credit, independent of income
Denationalizing and deregulating the market for individual insurance
Greater use of Health Savings Accounts
Repeal of the individual mandate to buy health insurance
Repeal of the employer mandate to offer insurance

"This is a major step forward," said John Goodman, the health economist who helped draft the Sessions/Cassidy legislation and who has long been involved in health policy discussions on Capitol Hill. "Republicans are endorsing a vision of health care in which people can make their own decisions, manage more of their own health care dollars and reap the benefits of competition in the marketplace."

For more than a decade. Speaker Ryan has advocated a universal health tax credit, an idea that is included in the Sessions/Cassidy legislation. The Task Force report did not go that far, proposing instead a credit for the individual market and some important changes in the tax treatment of employer-provided insurance.

"The ultimate goal should be to treat everyone the same," said Goodman. "People should get the same tax relief regardless of where they obtain their insurance – at work, in the marketplace or in an exchange."

About the Goodman Institute
Led by Dr. John C. Goodman, the Goodman Institute for Public Policy Research (GIPPR), is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization that promotes private alternatives to government regulation and control, solving problems by relying on the strength of the competitive, entrepreneurial private sector. Topics include reforms in health care, taxes, and entitlements. Visit www.goodmaninstitute.org.

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SOURCE Goodman Institute