( MENAFN - PR Newswire) WASHINGTON, May 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Paragon health Institute , a leader in health care research and market-based policy proposals, just released Follow the Money: How Tax Policy Shapes health Care , an in-depth look at ten tax provisions affecting health care and coverage. The paper, authored by Theo Merkel and Brian Blase (two top officials at the White House's National Economic Council under President Trump), seeks to influence key policy decisions in 2025 and beyond. This paper serves as a guide for congress as it will tackle tax reform next year given the expiration of provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
In Follow the Money: How Tax Policy Shapes health Care, Merkel and Blase evaluate the impact of ten health tax provisions and shed light on their history. Most relevant for policymakers are their commitment to a fair and efficient health system and recommendations for reforms that reflect learnings from what did, and did not, work in previous health reform efforts. Currently, the tax code has provisions that create efficiencies in the health sector and others that lead to waste and significant overutilization of health care services.
Merkel and Blase propose congress : Merkel and Blase recommend that congress permit additional plan designs that can be linked with health savings accounts and Medicare medical savings accounts given the benefits when people shop for care. They also propose that congress improve the 2019 individual coverage.
