I would like to update the SCHIP debate and the insidious restrictions Bush wants to place on them...but that'll have to wait until tomorrow.
In the meanwhile, feel free to read this wonderful National Review evaluation of the Republican presidential-hopefuls' health care plan and their desire to allow tax-incentives for personal health care purchasing as opposed to a) government sponsored and b) employer paid:
The centerpiece of Giuliani’s plan is the proposal, first made by President Bush in January, to change the tax treatment of health insurance. The tax code currently encourages people to get health insurance through their employers rather than to get higher wages and to pay for their insurance themselves. It provides a larger tax break the more expensive that insurance, encouraging people to choose policies that offer greater coverage. Bush, and now Giuliani, would extend the tax break to individuals who purchase their own health insurance. They would provide the same tax break regardless of the cost of the insurance, so that purchasers would have more incentive to shop around.
Romney proposes different changes to the tax code. He would make all out-of-pocket health expenses deductible against income taxes. That change would reduce one distortion of the economy: People would no longer have as great an incentive to get insurance to cover routine medical expenses rather than to pay for them out of pocket. But there are two problems with this proposal. First: Judging from the work of his principal health-care advisers, Romney’s plan would still give employer-provided plans an advantage, as they would be exempt from both income and payroll taxes. Giuliani’s plan would level the playing field more; individual ownership of health insurance would no longer be penalized at all.
Clearly then, the problem with the American health care system is TOO MUCH COVERAGE! Gulliani believes that allowing employer based deductions incentivizes more expensive plans and Romney feels that well...people really don't need insurance coverage for routine medical expenses.
Yes, I too hear the same complaints from small business owners - their employees are choosing too pricey a program...and from women that if only they could pay for their own Pap smears, our health care system would once again work.