B DeBrun wrote:

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From the NY Times okok....

To end the disadvantage to those who do not buy insurance through employers, Mr. McCain proposes to eliminate the exclusion of health benefits from taxable income. In exchange, he would provide refundable tax credits of $2,500 to single people and of $5,000 to families, with the goal of stoking competition in the individual insurance market. The elimination of the exclusion would generate $3.6 trillion over 10 years, according to the McCain campaign, and that money would pay for the tax credits.

Mr. Holtz-Eakin calculated that workers in the top income tax bracket would have to pay more in taxes if their employers have been contributing at least $14,285 toward a family insurance premium. Nationwide, the average cost of a family policy is $12,106, with employers paying $8,824 of that amount.

While the change would primarily affect those with gold-plated insurance policies, health analysts point out that middle-income workers with conventional coverage could conceivably pay more in regions where insurance costs are high. Over time, that might depend on how the tax credits are adjusted for inflation, a detail Mr. McCain has not discussed.

Gary Claxton, a vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health policy research group, said that about 6 percent of insured employees worked for companies where the average employer contribution met the threshold set by Mr. Holtz-Eakin. Mr. Claxton said he could not project how many of those workers are in the top tax bracket and would pay higher taxes.

Well, asking those in the top tax bracket to pay more in taxes sounds very Obamamian. As for the middle income, hard to gauge how large the hit will be.

Gregoire wrote:

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Because of Sarah Palin's mentioning of Civil War general George McClellan and his stance on a surge in Afghanistan, I pulled a book on the history of Civil War off my shelf this morning and started reading it. Thank you Sarah!