More words of wisdom from DownsizeDC.org:

Sadly, the politicians now want to create a new dragnet program that will once again fail as a safety net. And they’re once again using fraudulent claims to con us. The politicians tell us that more than 45 million Americans lack health insurance. But they don’t tell us what their own census surveys show about the un-insured . . .

* 37% live in households earning more than $50,000 a year
* 19% live in households earning more than $75,000 a year
* 20% aren’t citizens
* 33% already qualify for current government programs

Subtract out those who could afford major medical coverage if they wanted, non-citizens, and those who fit under existing programs, and the un-insured problem shrinks dramatically — probably to less than 10 million people.

Much of this problem could be fixed be removing legal requirements for what insurance has to cover. We could return to true insurance, which would cover major health problems, and not the medical equivalent of oil changes and tire rotations.

And here’s something else the politicians won’t tell you . . .

• The Congressional Budget Office estimates that a standard health insurance deduction would make coverage affordable for 7 million additional people.
• A Treasury Department study reaches a similar conclusion.

Congress could wipe out the un-insurance problem in one swoop — not by creating a new dragnet program, but simply by letting people keep more of their own money.

In addition, the insurance deduction could apply to payroll and Medicare taxes too. These are regressive taxes that hurt low income Americans far more than income taxes do. Best of all . . .

A standard health insurance deduction would help everyone, not just those with lower incomes.

We don’t need another government dragnet to give Americans what they could provide for themselves. What we need is less government and lower taxes.