(266) COMMENT RESPONSES

Ryan wrote and asked about the Baucus Bill that came out of the Finance Committee yesterday. The Bill, as advertised, will actually reduce the deficit. My thoughts are: there are dozens of bills that, allegedly, will reduce the deficit and, unfortunately, they don't work and usually result in an increase in the deficit. The only way to reduce the deficit is to stop spending, and, on my horizon, I don't see a single politician who is willing to stop spending.

Anonymous wrote a letter that says that my proposal of letting everyone deduct from their taxes the cost of health insurance would not solve the problem. His letter was long and thoughtful. I don't mind anyone disagreeing with me as long as the person is thinking, and Anonymous, while I disagree with the points he made, is thinking, which puts him four laps ahead of the average citizen.

I will attempt to answer some of the points that he made in his letter, on a piece-meal basis. First, he writes, "A tax deduction to cover the cost of health care would certainly not alleviate our current problems and for a couple of reasons. First, there is always the instance that you are currently maximizing your tax deductions, so allowing for additional possible deductions will do you no good because you may have already hit your limit, thereby not alleviating the growing cost of health care."

I don't exactly understand what Anonymous was saying. If my tax deductions exceed my income, I create a loss carry-forward and can deduct the costs next year. Since health care is the number one thing on the political agenda, people who pay for their own health care should get a benefit instead of being taxed. While there are 40-50 million people uninsured in this country, about 250 million people are insured. The problem stems from the insurance companies doing outrageous things like cancelling someone's insurance after 20 years or claiming they were not told about a pre-existing condition at the time the policy was issued. This constitutes poor treatment for the insured, and the insured should sue them for the torts of Outrage and Breech of Contract, however, it is almost impossible to sue these scumbags because our government, in an effort to reduce health costs, has passed legislation that make suits against insurance carriers almost impossible.

If Anonymous knows anyone who is on the current social security Medicare program, he should talk to them. He will find that there is a 100-page booklet that describes why co-payments have gone up, why prescription costs have gone up, and why health-insurance premiums have increased. I still work, and I pay 1% of my income to the Medicare fund, and I pay it with after-tax dollars. The same thing with social security. I pay my social-security contributions with after-tax dollars and, when I collect social security, I have to pay tax on the income. Everything in government is designed to create situations where the public has to pay more taxes.

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It was a sad week because Mary Travers died. Peter, Paul, & Mary sang the great protest songs of the 1960's and 1970's. Since I was a flaming Republican in those days, I didn't enjoy her music as much as I have in recent years.

Ryan and Anonymous, keep thinking. I need to be challenged.

Sincerely yours,
Donald M. Heavrin,
A moving target