Tax Credits for Health Insurance

The tax code has served as the primary vehicle for subsidizing health care in the U.S. for most of the last century, and will likely play a role in any future reform efforts. This paper discusses the role that the tax law can play in the implementation of health reform. The interplay, however, between the law and health policy presents a series of critical design and implementation challenges with which any health care reform package must grapple. This paper considers some of the most pressing of these issues, and while it does not prescribe a particular outcome, it attempts to identify potential tax solutions. Additionally, the paper addresses the policy and administrative design questions that any discussion of these solutions should take into account.