Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 7, 1992 TAG: 9202070195
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
BUSH VAGUE ON HOW TO PAY
President Bush introduced his $100 billion, election-year plan to provide health care for the uninsured Thursday but left the question of how to finance it unanswered.His plan urges reforms in the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs serving poor and elderly patients, and administration officials said those changes would produce enough savings to finance much of the new health-insurance voucher system.
But the president did not specify how much the reforms would save and offered no other specific proposal to raise the money.
The White House made clear that Bush primarily was interested in putting forth a proposal to be debated along with those of his Democratic opponents in the presidential campaign.
Democrats called the president's plan "woefully inadequate" because it did not address the soaring cost of medical services.
At the heart of his plan is a system of tax credits, vouchers and deductions that Bush said would help bring medical care to the 34 million Americans who are uninsured and would lighten the burden of health insurance costs for another 61 million who are struggling to pay for it.
The vouchers would be worth up to $300 a month for a family of four with a poverty-level income of $14,000 a year, and could be used to purchase insurance through their employer, privately or through new state-run managed-care programs.
Higher-income people and families earning up to $80,000 would be eligible for a similar level of assistance through tax credits or deductions figured against their income tax.
Self-employed people would be able to deduct 100 percent of their insurance premiums or take advantage of the credit, whichever is greater.
The administration estimated those tax breaks would cost $100 billion over the next five years, when they would reach an annual cost of $35 billion. Officials argue that the program ultimately would pay for itself through the "waste and inefficiency" Bush said he wants to "wring out" of the current system.