Anyone Running Against Specter in the Democratic Party?
I got my checkbook here. To be for Wynden-Bennett and against ending the tax deduction for employer-sponsored health care automatically makes somebody too stupid to be qualified to serve in the U.S. Senate.
Ezra Klein:
EzraKlein Archive | The American Prospect: A VERY WEIRD FORM OF CONSISTENCY: Not to fill the blog with Arlen Specter related content this morning, but this bit from Meet the Press deserves to be quoted.
MR. GREGORY: Do you support taxing the value of, the value of employer-provided health care for workers?
SEN. SPECTER: No, I'd be very reluctant to do that. Health care provided by employers, which is deductible for them and not added on as income to the recipient, has been the mainstay of health coverage for millions of Americans, and I'd be very reluctant to abandon that.
MR. GREGORY: So the health care reform you would like to see is what?
SEN. SPECTER: I would, I would like to see all Americans covered. I've joined with the Wyden-Bennett plan, has 14 co-sponsors.
The thing about the Wyden-Bennett plan -- the aspect that actually makes it different from virtually every other plan on offer -- is that it ends the tax deduction for employer-provided health care. Come to think of it, though, supporting the Wyden-Bennett plan while opposing its key features is not all that different from becoming a Democrat but opposing against all the party's major priorities.
