BUT A DREAM. Look, I'm going to assume that this is just a false awakening, and I'm still asleep, and even though it sure feels like I woke up, and came to the office, and read the Wall Street Journal, this story suggesting Bush will push a progressive and smart change in the tax code is the sort of cognitive disruption that's going to jolt me back to consciousness any second. In which case, I better write this post quick. According to the WSJ, Bush is going to make another go at health reforms. The centerpiece of his coming proposal -- which'll include all the normal HSA and electronic records shenanigans -- would be a change to the way employer-based care gets deducted. As the law stands, there's no limit. The gold-plated, diamond-encrusted plan is fully deductible. The Bushies would cap that, exposing some of that high-end compensation to taxation, raising billions of dollars. As I said, this is clearly a product of my fevered nighttime imagination: The hundreds of billions the employer health care exemption costs in lost tax revenue (which, of course, is made up elsewhere) amounts to a massive, regressive wealth transfer from the un-, under-, and self-insured to the well-off. But does that really sound like the sort of giveaway Bush has made his career fighting against? And the article suggests the new revenues will go to subsidize low income Americans? I think I hear my alarm clock... Bonus Poll Number!: According to the article, 34% of Americans think health care should be the government's top priority, making it #2 behind Iraq, and ahead of both terrorism and job creation. --Ezra Klein
