AMA President: Tax incentives could aid pain of healthcare costs
The American Medical Association (AMA) supports a proposal to grant tax credits to U.S. citizens which could help stop mounting problems from healthcare costs. AMA President J. Edward Hill claimed in a speech last week that healthcare costs, especially as they impact the middle-class, add up to a “healthcare crisis.” Hill delivered the speech to the Volusia County Medical Society, a physicians’ group based in Volusia County, Fla. last week, the Dayton Beach News-Journal reports.
"The presidential candidate who can convince the public that he or she can solve the healthcare crisis will win the next election. Middle-class America is in pain from the cost of medical care and they aren't going to take it much longer," said Hill to the group.
Hill also claimed that his belief was that the better solution – beyond tax credits – is to drive competition between insurance companies. He also stated that this sort of plan could cover nearly 95 percent of the U.S. population.
As for the tax cuts the AMA is backing, they would provide tax credits in an inverse fashion related to a person’s income, so that the lower one’s income the higher the tax cut.
In the speech Hill conceded that the Medicare prescription drug benefit, though imperfect, has “helped more people than it hurt” but suggested that its main fault lies in its reliance on the Internet to enroll members and that there is not enough competition to support all of the plans that are offered to members. Meanwhile, he said, people’s main concern is just trying to figure out which drug plan has their medication included.
"The presidential candidate who can convince the public that he or she can solve the healthcare crisis will win the next election. Middle-class America is in pain from the cost of medical care and they aren't going to take it much longer," said Hill to the group.
Hill also claimed that his belief was that the better solution – beyond tax credits – is to drive competition between insurance companies. He also stated that this sort of plan could cover nearly 95 percent of the U.S. population.
As for the tax cuts the AMA is backing, they would provide tax credits in an inverse fashion related to a person’s income, so that the lower one’s income the higher the tax cut.
In the speech Hill conceded that the Medicare prescription drug benefit, though imperfect, has “helped more people than it hurt” but suggested that its main fault lies in its reliance on the Internet to enroll members and that there is not enough competition to support all of the plans that are offered to members. Meanwhile, he said, people’s main concern is just trying to figure out which drug plan has their medication included.