Tax Disincentives

We now have people staying in jobs they may not like because of healthcare issues, but since Obamacare has passed, we could have people leaving jobs they like in order to save money on insurance because of the government subsidies.

This is another reason that individuals should receive the tax advantage of an insurance premium and not the companies. This would give them the advantage of owning the policy and getting the tax break no matter where they worked.

HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGE SUBSIDIES CREATE INEQUITIES

Both the House and Senate versions of the health care bill, as well as the Obama Administration's "compromise" proposal, offer large subsidies to encourage low- and middle-income individuals and households to purchase health insurance from private insurers through a government-supervised health insurance exchange, says Stephen J. Entin is, president and executive director of the Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation (IRET).
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO):

About 127 million people potentially qualify for subsidies through the exchange on the basis of their income and family status, but many of them are covered at work or through Medicaid.

Therefore, the CBO estimated that only 18 million will participate.

However, if the number of people who purchase the subsidized insurance is higher than projected, taxpayer costs will be higher and fewer people will be covered by private employer-sponsored health plans.

Because employer-based health insurance is a tax-favored benefit, those who are covered by their company plans will generally be ineligible to buy the exchange-based plans. Premium payments by the employer are not counted as taxable income to the employee and payroll taxes are not imposed on the value. Thus, the employee receives an implicit tax subsidy equal to his or her marginal income tax rate plus the payroll tax rate, says Entin.

All three versions of the health bill will hold down taxpayer costs for the new program by disqualifying those with employment-based coverage. However, that means two otherwise identical households with the same total income, number of adults and number of children will face sharply different costs for insurance and health care, says Entin.

Low- and middle-income people who buy health exchange policies will receive much larger subsidies than the tax breaks they would receive with employer-provided health insurance. Therefore, people are likely to find ways to qualify for an exchange plan -- even if it means leaving a job that provides health insurance. As a result, government cost projections, which do not take into account things such as people intentionally changing jobs, are probably unrealistically low, says Entin.