> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Marta Russell
> "The Bradley tax credit is
> likely to be
> used by a very large percentage of the eligible population, since it by design
> would cover the entire premium, and the person applying CANNOT BE TURNED DOWN
> for coverage."(emphasis added)
>
> Most disabled people don't make enough money to qualify for a tax
> credit - so this
> is USELESS to them.
Marta, the tax credit is refundable and is available to everyone whether they pay taxes or not.
You are criticizing a program that you have not even bothered to learn the most basic facts about.
There are serious issues for the disabled currently served by Medicaid that you have raised, which are important and Consumers Union has highlighted for concern. But for the non-poor disabled who don't qualify for Medicaid and the non-disabled poor, Bradley's plan is a large step forward.
Of course expanding Medicaid to cover everyone would be preferred. But the choice is not between Bradley's plan and that; it's between the status quo and something like Bradley's plan. Or something far worse like the plan by the Health Insurance Association to give all the subsidies to business and let them keep control of health care.
And again, Bradley has proposed spending $60 billion per year more on health care access for low-income individuals. As long as so little money goes to health care for low-income individuals, cherry-picking and health care cuts are inevitable one way or another whatever the details.
-- Nathan Newman