Administration open to taxing health benefits

As reported here, [t]he Obama administration is signaling to Congress that the president could support taxing some employee health benefits, as several influential lawmakers and many economists favor, to help pay for overhauling the health care system.

The proposal is politically problematic for President Obama, however, since it is similar to one he denounced in the presidential campaign as "the largest middle-class tax increase in history." Most Americans with insurance get it from their employers, and taxing workers for the benefit is opposed by union leaders and some businesses.

What is not mentioned at all in the article is the fact that if this does go into effect, people will then be inclined to not have health insurance through their employer, to avoid the tax hit from having health insurance. That would then increase the burden on emergency rooms across the country from people who no longer would have employer provided insurance turning to emergency rooms for their health needs, which would in turn increase the drain on public money to fund services for those without health insurance. In effect, we already are being taxed on our health insurance, to provide coverage for those that do not have health insurance and make use of hospital emergency rooms, and by placing a tax on employer provided insurance means we would be, in effect, getting hit twice for the same thing.

The bad economic ideas just keep coming, folks.