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THE QUESTION
Should We Tax the Rich to Cover the Uninsured?
What do you think of plans in the House to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans to help pay for health insurance for the approximately 50 million uninsured Americans?
Posted by Rachel Saslow on July 13, 2009 10:15 AM
FROM THE PANEL
'Bad Policy Any Way You Look At It'
Every American should be disappointed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) chose a partisan political power-grab over solving real problems.
Posted by Newt Gingrich, on July 17, 2009 3:09 PM
Only If You Like Killing Jobs
This bill effectively tells small business owners, "Slow down. Don't grow. Don't create so many jobs."
Posted by Robert F. Graboyes, on July 16, 2009 12:38 PM
Sharing Growth
When growth is no longer widely shared, things are out of whack in a way that threatens both the economic stability and the social solidarity of a nation. Asking the very wealthy to help finance health care for all is a step in the right direction.
Posted by Maggie Mahar, on July 16, 2009 12:25 PM
Throwing Good Money After Bad
All the money in the world will not make our current, fragmented non-system more effective until we all agree that the right provider needs to provide the right care to the right patient in the right setting for the right cost at the right time for the right reason using the right tools.
Posted by Colleen Conway-Welch, on July 16, 2009 11:32 AM
A Chance to Bolster Healthy Behaviors
The first focus should be on America's obesity epidemic, which is bolstered by a food industry supported, in turn, by public policy and fiscal incentives.
Posted by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, on July 15, 2009 6:38 AM
Lets Tax Everyone Instead
Taxes are essential to pay for infrastructure, defense and other important services that contribute to the progress of this nation. It is my conviction that health care is as significant as these and warrants the same status.
Posted by Kathy-Ellen Kups, on July 14, 2009 10:58 PM
Taxing Isn't the Answer
Looking for more revenue to feed the current system is like trying to lose weight by eating more. It does not work that way. Instead we need to keep our focus on improving the system and identifying ways to reduce health-care spending.
Posted by Linda Leckman, on July 14, 2009 6:56 PM
Brother Can You Spare A Dime?
Bullying the haves with excessive taxes and pitting the have-nots as their proverbial foe is, frankly, dated and unimaginative.
Posted by Chris T. Pernell, on July 14, 2009 1:11 PM
There Is No Easy Way to Greatness
But, this is one time where all of us, rich or poor, sick or healthy must look in the mirror and ask what investment we can make to improve our (collective and individual) health.
Posted by Chisara N. Asomugha, on July 14, 2009 11:50 AM
A Simple Answer: Yes
It is time for the nation's wealthiest to forgo their out-sized gains of the Bush years and return to a time of a more reasonable and progressive tax structure -- and save countless lives in the process.
Posted by Angela Glover Blackwell, on July 14, 2009 9:39 AM
Who Pays for Whose Heath Care?
The political debate is often framed around covering the uninsured. At the heart of this is the supposition that health care is a moral obligation -- that everyone has a "right" to it. But it's difficult to separate the moral from the economic because there is no other "liberty" that requires payment.
Posted by Peter Neupert, on July 14, 2009 1:34 AM
Higher Taxes? For Whom and for What?
Unlike Canada and other western nations, we have no organized national health-care system. Given that vacuum, where will these tax dollars go? Are they to build a durable health system or just pay for more escalating health-care costs?
Posted by Mark Kelley, on July 13, 2009 10:33 PM
Uncle Sam Is No Robin Hood
This would be laughable if it weren't so tragic in it's destruction of the very opportunistic values that separate this great country from others. "Go west, young man and you'll lose your shirt, and don't bother to build a business 'cause you'll lose your pants, too."
Posted by Sue Falkner Wood, on July 13, 2009 8:03 PM
Death and Taxes...or Taxed to Death?
$550 billion is only expected to cover about half of the cost of health-care reform. Which begs the real question: why would we be willing to add $1 trillion to the already over-bloated cost of buying health care in this country? We need to think in terms of health-care reform as distinct, but inseparable from, health-care transformation.
Posted by Raymond J. Zastrow, on July 13, 2009 5:34 PM
Tax Unhealthy Behaviors Instead
As an upper-income American, I would want to know whether what I pay is being well-spent. If it is for health-care reform, I would want to know whether it is good reform or just an overly ambitious and misguided public plan.
Posted by Michael Critelli, on July 13, 2009 3:46 PM
To Care Or Not To Care
I believe the U.S. wants to be viewed as a caring nation, but we overseas hear far more about the lack of provision for the poorest than about the good care given to the richest. If you care about opinion, now is the chance to do something!
Posted by Philip Dommett, on July 13, 2009 11:04 AM
Time to Bear the Burden
Since this group enjoyed a significant tax reduction windfall during the last decade -- and since this windfall played a big role in burgeoning federal deficits -- it makes sense that this group bears some burden.
Posted by Ron Pollack, on July 13, 2009 10:58 AM
FEATURED COMMENTS
morryb: In this country where about 90% of the wealth is held by about 5% of the population, just asking the question of whether the rich should be ...
highschoolteacher: HUMOR BREAK (slightly edited for censors):
"The rich are the most discriminated-against minority in the world. Openly or covertly, everybody...
mike85: Barack Obama has declared war on the successful. If you work hard and have found ways to make money, you are the enemy of the United States,...
