Testimony Financing Health Care Reform
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Before the Senate Committee on Finance
Leonard E. Burman
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The latest statistics show that 46 million Americans were uninsured in 2007. Health care costs threaten to bankrupt the nation if we can't figure out a way to slow their growth and pay for the government's growing share. Adding to the government's unfunded health care obligations would be reckless and irresponsible. In this statement, I will discuss some issues involved in measuring the impact of health care financing options, discuss an option to pay for universal health care coverage with a value added tax (VAT), and examine several incremental options to pay for all or part of health care coverage expansions.
Research Areas Health and health care Taxes and budgets
Tags Health insurance Federal budget and economy
Policy Centers Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center